THE SLAVE SHIP

Book Report: The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker

Tuskegee University

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of History and Political Science

Fall Semester 2013

By

World Civilization: HIST: 0104:01

Professor Godfrey Vincent

Book Report: The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker

Introduction

With the term 'slavery', it is usually the bound labor in plantations of the 19th century that comes to mind. Rediker's book 'The Slave Ship' though requires from the reader to go beyond that and think of how actually these slaves arrived in this region. The book though is not just limited to providing an answer to how these people arrived but also focuses on the vehicle that was used for transporting these captives. The book, therefore, is focused on the study of the slave ship in the 18th century, including the characteristics of it in terms of materials, the promoters of it, the captains and crews, the cargo that it carried, and the manner in which it worked 'as a machine to produce the commodity 'slave' for a global labor market'. Rediker has in this book provided a comprehensive account in terms of scope and detail with a very engaging and gruesome style. The book though is not an easy one to read and absorb since the author is found to be challenging various conventional notions regarding the slave system.

About the Author

The author of the book Marcus Rediker is a historian, writer, teacher and activist. Born in Kentucky, in 1951, he belonged to a working class family. He grew up in Nashville and Richmond and attended Vanderbilt University. He graduated with a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1976. He later earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania . He is married to Wendy Z. Goldman and has two children Ezekiel Kalman Rediker and Eva Jane Rediker.

Rediker began his career in teaching in the year 1982 when he started teaching in Georgetown University and continued to teach there till 1994. He then joined the University of Pittsburgh as a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History . The author has written, co-written, and edited seven books over the years namely, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1987), Who Built America? (1989) Vol. 1, The Many Headed Hydra (2000), Villains of all Nations (2004), The Slave Ship: A Human History (2007), Many Middle Passages (2007), and The Amistad Rebellion (2012). Apart from these books, the author has also written numerous articles on a range of topics, reviewed some books related to history, and has also produced some professional papers and given presentations at various universities of the United States. He has received many honors over the years and has also been awarded various prizes for his books (CV).

Summary of the book

The book is an eloquent and deeply provocative account in which the author has synthesized a vast amount of recent studies along with a range of primary documents such as testimonials, diaries, manifests and many others. The purpose of the book is primarily to ...