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A review by bahareads
The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
The Slave Ship cover the 1700 to 1808, and the ships, their crew and captives. Marcus Rediker says he's not reinventing the wheel but looking at the slave trade from a different viewpoint, slave ships. Rediker covers the four main "dramas" in the slave ship environment: the relationship between slave ship captain and crew; crew and slaves; inter-slave relations; and abolitionists with slave ships. Many studies on slavery start with enslaved people getting off the ship, not the journey on the ship or starting back in Africa. Rediker is more of a storyteller in this work, he's not pushing a particular theory or narrative. He's using first-hand accounts to show readers what life was like on the ships and the relationships between all those on the ships. Readers get first-hand accounts from sailors and captains, as well as their views on the enslaved people on those ships and their treatment of them. There are popular slave narratives such as Equiano are included in The Slave Ship .
There's so much in here - so many stories that had me gasping and crying. Rediker pushes capitalism to be one of the main factors of the slave trade growth. He broadens the scope of what true hell for enslaved people was; the drama of the slave ship. Rediker covers the sailors who didn't want to be on the ships, perhaps being pressed into service and the poor treatment they likely received on the ship. However, he also covers the dynamics of the power sailors had over the enslaved. Captains had to command themselves, the ship, supplies, and the people on the ship. Captains had to put distance between themselves and their crew; resistance by sailors and slaves, accidents and mutiny were all large fears of captains. Rediker shows cruelty to slaves was systemic and systematic as well as learned over time. He also illustrates most captains were violent and cruel to everyone on board their ships. Marcus Rediker looks at enslaved people's experiences; how gender affected treatment, how women were sexualized, freedom of movement or lack thereof, inter-slave relations, rebellion and insurrection BUT most importantly how enslaved people created communities on board slave ships.
There's so much in here - so many stories that had me gasping and crying. Rediker pushes capitalism to be one of the main factors of the slave trade growth. He broadens the scope of what true hell for enslaved people was; the drama of the slave ship. Rediker covers the sailors who didn't want to be on the ships, perhaps being pressed into service and the poor treatment they likely received on the ship. However, he also covers the dynamics of the power sailors had over the enslaved. Captains had to command themselves, the ship, supplies, and the people on the ship. Captains had to put distance between themselves and their crew; resistance by sailors and slaves, accidents and mutiny were all large fears of captains. Rediker shows cruelty to slaves was systemic and systematic as well as learned over time. He also illustrates most captains were violent and cruel to everyone on board their ships. Marcus Rediker looks at enslaved people's experiences; how gender affected treatment, how women were sexualized, freedom of movement or lack thereof, inter-slave relations, rebellion and insurrection BUT most importantly how enslaved people created communities on board slave ships.