The Zong
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The Zong
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
The first full review of the mass murder by crew members on the slave ship Zong and the lasting repercussions of this horrifying event.
On November 29, 1781, Captain Collingwood of the British ship Zong commanded his crew to throw overboard one-third of his cargo: a shipment of Africans bound for slavery in America. The captain believed his ship was off course, and he feared there was not enough drinking water to last until landfall. This book is the first to examine in detail the deplorable killings on the Zong, the lawsuit that ensued, how the murder of 132 slaves affected debates about slavery, and the way we remember the infamous Zong today.
Historian James Walvin explores all aspects of the Zongβs voyage and the subsequent trialβa case brought to court not for the murder of the slaves but as a suit against the insurers who denied the ownersβ claim that their βcargoβ had been necessarily jettisoned. The scandalous case prompted wide debate and fueled Britainβs awakening abolition movement. Without the episode of the Zong, Walvin contends, the process of ending the slave trade would have taken an entirely different moral and political trajectory. He concludes with a fascinating discussion of how the case of the Zong, though unique in the history of slave ships, has come to be understood as typical of life on all such ships.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
David Richardson, co-author of Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, praises the book for situating the Zong tragedy within the broader context of the British slave trade and abolition efforts, calling it 'Walvin at his best.' Gad Heuman, co-editor of The Routledge History of Slavery, describes it as 'a lucid, fluent and fascinating account' that details the horror and places the event within both historical and contemporary contexts.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780300253887
Publisher: Yale University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 11 December 2019
Country: United States
Imprint: Yale University Press
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 140.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 304
About the Author
James Walvin is professor emeritus, University of York, and a world authority on transatlantic slavery. Among his many previous books are Black Ivory: Slavery in the British Empire and The Trader, The Owner, The Slave: Parallel Lives in the Age of Slavery. He lives in York, UK.
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