Review of the slave ship by marcus rediker the lakefront. Marcus rediker, a university of pittsburgh history professor, sits in front of a 1774 map of the west indies, where many of the millions of africans captured as slaves were sent for unloading. In many ways, marcus rediker believes, the african slave trade actually created the black and white races. Rediker looks not at that bigger picture but at the slave ship itself, as a microeconomy where the captain was chief executive, jailer, accountant, paymaster. A unique account of the most successful slave rebellion in american history, now updated with a new epiloguefrom the awardwinning author of the slave ship in this powerful and highly original account, marcus rediker reclaims the amistad rebellion for its true proponents. Munson institute of american maritime studies at mystic seaport. It is a shame that spielberg did not have marcus redikers moving account of the amistad rebellion, which puts the focus where it always belonged. Marcus rediker uncovers the extraordinary human drama that played out on this worldchanging vessel.
Marcus rediker restores the slave ship to its rightful place alongside the plantation as a formative institution of slavery, as a place where a profound and still haunting history of race, class, and modern capitalism was made. A human history and millions of other books are available for instant access. The slave ship by marcus rediker is a scholarly story of the middle passage. By 1807, more than ninemillion africans in shackles, manacles, neck rings, locks and chains had been carried to new world plantations, a crime impossible without ships, the most complex machines of the age, turned for this evil purpose into floating dungeons. The slave ship is the fourth book written by marcus rediker, a prizewinning american historian of the earlymodern era and the atlantic world and a distinguished professor of history at the university of pittsburgh. The slave ship a human history book also available for read online, mobi, docx and mobile and kindle reading. His goal is to reconstruct the social world of the angloamerican slave ship during what he calls the long eighteenth century. Rediker illustrates the horrendous conditions that the slaves endured by reproducing a 1787 drawing of the slave ship brooks. The hebrews included a provision that a man held as slave must be set free after seven years. Much is known of the slave trade and the american plantation complex, but little of the ships that made it all possible. Here, the author creates a detailed history of these vessels and the human drama.
His latest work, is a study of the slave trade, examined through the historical records and accounts of the people who built, crewed, and lived aboard the slave ships, as well as. Marcus rediker is the distinguished professor of atlantic history at the university of pittsburgh and the awardwinning author of the slave ship. In this book marcus rediker engages with the historiography of slavery by examining the ways in which slave ships shaped and were shaped by the slave trade. Sailors, pirates, and motley crews in the age of sail beacon pressverso, 2014. In his most recent book, the slave ship, marcus rediker mentions by name some 99 slave ships and often recounts facts and incidents a bout them as one would expect a narrative historian to do. Through evocative language, fluid narration, poignant imagery. Enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. Marcus rediker for more than three centuries, slave ships carried millions of people from the coasts of africa to the new world.
A human history, a meticulously researched work, marcus rediker, a maritime historian at the university of pittsburgh, has drawn the slave ship out of. Along with peter linebaugh, he coauthored one of the best accounts of emergent capitalism in the countries that surrounded that ocean. In the introduction to the slave ship you say that this was a painful book to write. Pdf colloquy with marcus rediker on the slave ship. Marcus redikers lecture the slave ship was recorded in july of 2012 at the frank c. Marcus rediker the new chairman of the pitt history department is an acknowledged master of maritime life in the 1700s and has written previous books on merchant seamen, naval crewmen and pirates. A human history, african diaspora archaeology newsletter. The right of marcus rediker to be identified as the author of the work has been. The slave ship by marcus rediker, 9780143114253, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. The slave ship book cover for more than three centuries slave ships carried millions of people from the coasts of africa across the atlantic to the. In the slave ship, marcus rediker undertakes a thoroughgoing examination of all aspects, both human and material, social and political, of the instruments of the middle passage that in thousands of voyages across the atlantic ferried over 12. Then you can start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer no kindle device required.
This book traces the tale of the slave from capture, through a torturous journey across africa and the final chapter, transported across the atlantic ending in the beginning of hell to millions of black africans. In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, awardwinning scholar marcus rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the british and american. The malevolent genius of the slave ship lay in its combination of many different roles. The work seeks to offer a new perspective on the slave trade by focusing on the slave ship itself, which, rediker claims, despite the immense recent outpouring of studies of the slave trade, has remained a neglected topic p. Rediker approaches this book in a four prong approach. Such is my prejudice that i imagine telegraph readers coming to redikers work not to be educated about the shaping of race and class in the western hemisphere by the atlantic slave trade but to bask in reminiscences about the source of their wealth or. Marcus rediker, a preeminent historian the maritime atlantic, unravels its history with unmatched knowledge of the material changes and moral ruptures its created. He is the author of numerous prizewinning books, including the manyheaded hydra with peter linebaugh, the slave ship, and the amistad rebellion. But for the nimble singer and dancer the sailors had the highest esteem.
A human history by marcus rediker find, read and cite all. In his book he documents the history of the american and british slave ships of the 18th century that. Marcus rediker born in owensboro, kentucky, in 1951, to buford and faye rediker, the first of their two sons. The recording and web presentation of the lecture were made possible by the national endowment for the humanities. Much is known of the slave trade and the american plantation system, but little of the ships that made it all possible.
Pdf on mar 1, 2010, dennis moore and others published colloquy with marcus rediker on the slave ship. Reviewed for the african diaspora archaeology newsletter by fred l. Slave ship sailors like butterworth usually detested the captains favorites as they were required to be snitches. In the slave ship, awardwinning historian marcus rediker draws on thirty years of research in maritime.
The cover of my edition of marcus redikers the slave ship features a quote from the sunday telegraph describing it as a truly magnificent book. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, the slave ship is. Marcus rediker uses his experience as a maritime historian and his mastery of the contemporary documents to recreate all three legs of the triangle, often in the very words of the participants captains, seamen and slaves. Marcus rediker in this widely praised history of an infamous institution, awardwinning scholar marcus rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the british and american slave ships of the eighteenth. She was universally respected by the ship s company. Interesting, rediker writes that the slave ship crystalized the creation of the white race. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The missing link in the chain of american slavery for three centuries slave ships carted millions of people from the coasts of africa across the atlantic to the americas. Download the slave ship a human history in pdf and epub formats for free.
Get ebooks the slave ship on pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi and audiobook for free. Ten years after my exhortation to move the field towards a. The quaker dwarf who became the first revolutionary abolitionist beacon press 2017. The slave ship by marcus redikercombining an expert maritime historians knowledge with the power of primary sources says lucy scholes. A human history by marcus rediker find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate.
Winner of the george washington book prize glider lehrman institute, the starr centerwashington college, and mount. Us historian marcus rediker talks to hassan mahamdallie about oppression and resistance. It was also a factory producing labour for the world economy. The slave ship was the instrument of historys greatest forced migration and a key to the origins and growth of global capitalism, yet much of its history remains unknown. In the slave ship, awardwinning historian marcus 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. Marcus rediker department of history university of. Rediker was also an advisor on this summers reboot of roots. Rediker states that he chose this approach because he believes it reveals the complexity of. Slave ship is the best of histories, deeply researched, brilliantly formulated, and morally informed. In this eloquent and deeply provocative new book, marcus rediker. Marcus rediker born 1951 in owensboro, kentucky is an american professor, historian, writer, and activist for a variety of peace and social justice causes. The book won numerous awards, including the 2008 george washington book prize and the 2008 merle curti award. He comes from a workingclass family, with roots in the mines and factories of kentucky, tennessee, and virginia. Marcus rediker is one of two historians of the revolutionary atlantic.