The empire of necessity : slavery, freedom, and deception in the New World / Greg Grandin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grandin, Greg, 1962- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Delano, Amasa, 1763-1823.

Delano, Amasa.

Slavery--South America--History--19th century.

Slavery.

Slave trade--South America--History--19th century.

Slave trade.

Slave rebellions--South America--History--19th century.

Slave rebellions.

History.

South America.

Physical Description:

xiv, 360 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2014.

Summary:

One morning in 1805, off a remote island in the South Pacific, Captain Amasa Delano, a New England seal hunter, climbed aboard a distressed Spanish ship carrying scores of West Africans who appeared to be slaves. They weren't. Having earlier seized control of the vessel and slaughtered most of the crew, they were staging an elaborate ruse. When Delano, an idealistic, anti-slavery republican, finally realized the deception--that the men and women he thought were slaves were actually running the ship--he responded with explosive violence. Drawing on research on four continents, historian Greg Grandin explores the multiple forces that culminated in this extraordinary event--an event that inspired Herman Melville's masterpiece Benito Cereno. Here, Grandin uses the dramatic happenings of that day to map a new transnational history of slavery in the Americas, capturing the clash of peoples, economies, and faiths that was the New World in the early 1800s.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Fast fish

A loose fish

The new extreme

Further

If God wills

Who ain't a slave?

General average.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [275]-342) and index.

ISBN:

9780805094534