Slavery's Long Goodbye

Capitalism, Nationalism and Christianity in the Age of British Emancipation

AvChris Evans

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

Del 25 i serien Liverpool Studies in International Slavery

2 154 kr

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Beskrivning

Ebook available to libraries exclusively as part of the JSTOR Path to Open intiative.In the 1830s, the British abolished slavery across their Atlantic empire. Their reasons were varied. Some had rallied behind abolitionism because they believed hostility to slavery was intrinsic to their Christian faith. Others thought that slavery was out of sync with a modern, industrialising economy. What united them was the belief that Britain was uniquely equipped, indeed destined, to end slavery. Abolitionism, it seemed, was baked into the national character.This book challenges that comforting narrative. Britons were never uniformly or persistently anti-slavery. Certainly, not all Victorian Christians were enthused by anti-slavery. Indeed, some of the most influential theological trends of the day, like Tractarianism, were indifferent to emancipation, if not actively hostile. Nor was Britain’s brand of industrial capitalism the antidote to enslavement. On the contrary, British capitalism sustained slavery in the many parts of the Atlantic world in the so-called Age of Emancipation.These tensions are traced through the intertwined lives of three cousins. One was an industrialist who pro ted from enslaved copper miners in Cuba. Another, a Royal Naval chaplain, turned against Britain’s anti-slavery mission in southern Africa. The third, a restless adventurer, fought for the pro-slavery Confederacy during the American Civil War. Together, their stories reveal a Britain far less certain – and far less virtuous – than abolitionist legend suggests.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-09-30
Mått:163 x 239 x undefined mm
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Liverpool Studies in International Slavery
Antal sidor:256
Förlag:Liverpool University Press
ISBN:9781805967828

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Chris Evans is a Professor of History at the University of South Wales. He is author of Slave Wales: The Welsh and Atlantic Slavery 1660-1850, and his interests include abolitionism in the British world in the nineteenth century; the links between European industry and the Atlantic slave trade; eighteenth-century whaling; and Swansea copper as an agency of global change in the nineteenth century. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Recensioner i media

"This marvellous account of British and American entanglements in slavery ranges far beyond the standard spatial and temporal parameters. Evans expertly weaves together personal, family and political connections across the Atlantic and deep into Africa and the Americas, tracing the changing contours of the British Empire as it adapted to a post-‘emancipation’ world. Required reading for students of British, imperial and world history."Alan Lester, Professor of Historical Geography, University of Sussex and Adjunct Professor of History, La Trobe University

Innehållsförteckning

Chapter 1: Sierra Leone: Pascoe Grenfell and the African InstitutionChapter 2: Cuba: Charles Pascoe Grenfell and the Cobre CompanyCharles Pascoe Grenfell and British Economic HegemonyEl CobreEl Cobre ExposedShape-shifting SlaversLord Brougham’s Act and the Limits of British AbolitionismChapter 3: 1843 The Cape: The Reverend Pascoe Grenfell Hill in Southern AfricaPascoe Grenfell Hill, High Anglicanism and SlaveryIntercepting SlaversThe Cape: Anti-slavery Headquarters in the 1840sOrdeal aboard the ProgressoThe Destruction of the Xhosa**Chapter 4: 1859 Kentucky: George St Leger Grenfell and the Defence of Slavery **Slavery Rampant in the 1850sAmbivalent NationalismsAnglo-Saxons ChronicledBlack Soldiers take to the FieldOn Secret ServiceChapter 5: 1867 and BeyondSome ConclusionsPeopleGlossary