The Zorg - by Siddharth Kara (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From Pulitzer finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Cobalt Red: A notorious slave ship incident that led to the abolition of slavery in the UK and sparked the US abolitionist movement

In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa's Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning "care") was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique.

After reaching Africa, the Zorg was captured by a privateer and came under British command. With a new captain and crew, the ship was crammed with 442 slaves and departed in 1781 for Jamaica. But a series of unpredictable weather events and mistakes in navigation left the ship drastically off course and running out of water. So a proposition was put forth: Save the crew and the most valuable of the slaves--by throwing dozens of people, starting with women and children, overboard.

What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England's highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history--sparking the abolitionist movement in both England and the young United States

Siddharth Kara utilizes primary-source research, gripping storytelling, and painstaking investigation to uncover the Zorg's journey, the lives and fates of the slaves on board, and the mysterious identity of the abolitionist who finally revealed the truth of what happened on the ship.

Review Quotes

"This remarkable, riveting book about a famous event of nearly two and a half centuries ago finds a raft of new information that generations of historians (myself included) have missed. And the episode involved was not just one more atrocity onboard a slave ship at sea; it was the spark that helped ignite the greatest human rights movement of all time." --Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost

"Mass murder aboard a slave transport, half-forgotten today but an iconic event...A vivid historical footnote, but also a milestone." --Kirkus

"A compelling, meticulously researched tale told with compassion and clarity, The Zorg reveals the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade and the humanity that led to its demise." --Hallie Rubenhold, bestselling author of The Five and The Story of a Murder

"The history at the heart of The Zorg is urgent, unflinching, and utterly essential. Siddharth Kara brings overdue attention to stories that demand to be known." --Dr. Anthony Delaney, author of Queer Georgians and podcast host of After Dark

About the Author

SIDDHARTH KARA is an author, researcher, and activist on modern slavery. Kara has written several books and reports on slavery and child labor, including the New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Cobalt Red. Kara also won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize. He has lectured at Harvard University and held a professorship at the University of Nottingham. He divides his time between Los Angeles and London.