The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870 – Hugh Thomas
While clearly thoroughly researched and repeated with rich detail, this book might have been more accurately titled “The Slave Trader,” as it’s really about the technicalities of the process of the slave trade and those who oversaw this process. Very little space in the 800 pages are given to anything that might be considered as being written from the slaves’ point of view, though to be fair the author does acknowledge this is due to the lack of sources available on this perspective. It often reads as a very long list of actions taken by slave traders, and more information on the culture of the slave trade would have been welcome. A valuable resource for those seeking to understand the ins and outs of the European side of the trade, but lacking in other dimensions.
