The Slave Ship - by Marcus Rediker (Paperback)

About the Book

Much is known of the American slave trade, but little of the ships that had made it all possible. Award-winning historian Rediker draws on 30 years of research in maritime archives to create an unprecedented history of these vessels and the human drama acted out on their rolling decks.

Book Synopsis

"Masterly."--Adam Hochschild, The New York Times Book Review

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the "floating dungeons" at the forefront of the birth of African American culture.

Review Quotes

"Masterly."--Adam Hochschild, The New York Times Book Review

"Searingly brilliant."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

" I was hardly prepared for the profound emotional impact of The Slave Ship: A Human History. Reading it established a transformative and never to be severed bond with my African ancestors who were cargo in slave ships over a period of four centuries."--Alice Walker

" The Slave Ship is the best of histories, deeply researched, brilliantly formulated, and morally informed."--Ira Berlin, author of Many Thousands Gone

About the Author

Marcus Rediker is the Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh and the award-winning author of The Slave Ship. He lives in Pittsburgh.