Interest How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Michael Taylor is the author of The Interest: How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2021, chosen as a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year and described as 'riveting' (The Times) and 'compulsively readable' (Guardian). He was born in 1988 and graduated with a double first in history from the University of Cambridge, where he earned his PhD. He has since been Lecturer in Modern British History at Balliol College, Oxford, and a Visiting Fellow at the British Library's Eccles Centre for American Studies.<b>An outstanding and gripping revelation ... essential reading</b>
- Simon Sebag Montefiore,
<b>Impressively researched and engagingly written</b>
- Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
<b>A magnificent book ... riveting</b>
- Ian Thomson, Evening Standard
<b>Powerful ... engrossing ... Taylor's potent book shows why slavery took root as an essential part of British national life</b>
- Martin Chilton, Independent
<b>Taylor can tell a story superbly</b> <b>and has a fine eye for detail ... His argument is a potent and necessary corrective to a cosy national myth</b>
Economist
<b>Michael Taylor's well-researched <i>The Interest</i> is ... about abolition, but it focuses on the grandees who fought against it, mostly for reasons of greed ... those seeking a catalogue of the country's old iniquities need look no further</b>
- Simon Heffer, Telegraph Books of the Year
<b>A thoroughly researched and potent historical account, <i>The Interest</i> exposes the truth behind the longstanding narrative of Britain as a leading abolitionist force and makes a powerful case for reparations</b>
- Rt Hon David Lammy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice,
<b>Scintillating</b> ... In twenty <b>brisk, gripping</b> chapters, Taylor charts the course from the foundation of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1823 to the final passage of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. Part of what makes this a <b>compulsively readable </b>book is his skill in cross-cutting between three groups of protagonists. On one track, we follow the abolitionist campaigners on their lengthy, uphill battle ... This well-known story is reanimated by some <b>brilliant pen-portraits</b> ... A second strand illuminates the fears and bigotries of white British West Indians ... The main focus of the book, however, is on the colonists' powerful domestic allies, the so-called West India Interest ... <b>Taylor paints a vivid picture of their outlook, organisation and superior political connections</b> ... As this <b>timely, sobering</b> book reminds us, British abolition cannot be celebrated as an inevitable or precocious national triumph. It was not the end, but only the beginning
- Fara Dabhoiwala, Guardian
<b>One achievement of Taylor's fascinating book is that, for the first time in a book about abolition, it gives equal weight to the force of pro-slavery</b> ... <b>Taylor's political analysis is first-rate and riveting</b> ... He argues that emancipation was neither inevitable nor altruistic; party politics in Westminster and rebellion from the West Indies played as much a role as moral outrage. Taylor's achievement [is to] show that, thanks to the power of the Interest, being pro-slavery was seen as a respectable, even popular, position in British politics until the day of its demise. <b>Above all, he reminds us of the role of those who have been unsung in this story</b> - of Mary Prince, Samuel Sharpe and Quamina
- Ben Wilson, The Times
<b>Taylor superbly brings to life all the intrigue, machinations, heavy-lifting, rigmarole and chance of the tortuous path to abolition</b>
- H Kumarasingham, Literary Review
Discover how the campaign to end slavery divided Britain and was almost thwarted by some of the most powerful and famous figures of the era.
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING**
In 1807, Parliament outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire. But for the next 25 years more than 700,000 people remained enslaved, due to the immensely powerful pro-slavery group the 'West India Interest'.
This ground-breaking history discloses the extent to which the 'Interest' were supported by nearly every figure of the British establishment - fighting, not to abolish slavery, but to maintain it for profit. Gripping and unflinching, The Interest is the long-overdue exposé of one of Britain's darkest, most turbulent times.
A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Scintillating . . . compulsively readable' Guardian
'A magnificent book . . . riveting' Evening Standard
'A critical piece of history and a devastating exposé' Shashi Tharoor, author of Inglorious Empire
'Thoroughly researched and potent' David Lammy MP
'Essential reading' Simon Sebag Montefiore
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING
A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR
For two hundred years, the abolition of slavery in Britain has been a cause for self-congratulation - but no longer.
In 1807, Parliament outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire.