The Transatlantic Slave Trade - by James a Rawley & Stephen D Behrendt (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The transatlantic slave trade played a major role in the development of the modern world. It both gave birth to and resulted from the shift from feudalism into the European Commercial Revolution. James A. Rawley fills a scholarly gap in the historical discussion of the slave trade from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century by providing one volume covering the economics, demography, epidemiology, and politics of the trade. This revised edition of Rawley's classic, produced with the assistance of Stephen D. Behrendt, includes emended text to reflect the major changes in historiography; current slave trade data tables and accompanying text; updated notes; and the addition of a select bibliography.

Review Quotes

"[The Transatlantic Slave Trade] corrects many misconceptions and stereotypes. It is of great value as a compendium of information about the European side of the trade and as a synthesis of recent scholarly work on the subject. . . . Intelligent and persuasive."--New York Times Book Review

"A work of substance that will serve as a general reference for some time."--Journal of American History

"This first-rate new study discusses the size and profitability of the slave business, the people who engaged in it, and its consequences in European and American history."--New Yorker

"Useful for the historian looking for a synthesis and overview of the literature. . . . A valuable source book for anyone interested in the slave trade, and it is an often fascinating account."--The Complete Review

About the Author

James A. Rawley (1916-2005) was Carl Adolph Happold Professor of History, emeritus, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the author of several books, including Turning Points of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln and a Nation Worth Fighting For, both available in Bison Books editions. Stephen D. Behrendt is a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington. He has coauthored a data archive of 27,233 slave voyages, The Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Database on CD-ROM.