The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition

I may not have been the right audience for this book dedicated to arguing that abolitionism wasn’t a white movement, but rather constantly influenced and guided by African-American voices, and otherwise more open to appeals to women’s rights and worker’s rights than it has sometimes been portrayed. (I'm not the right audience because I'm not embedded in that literature.) Sinha makes the case that self-emancipation—escape from slavery—produced some of the most influential voices on behalf of enslaved people. I also did learn this wonderful line from Frederick Douglass: “What O’Connell said of the history of Ireland may with greater truth be said of the negro’s. It may be ‘traced like a wounded man through a crowd, by show more the blood.’” (I hear Douglass is doing great things recently.) show less

Well-researched and I liked the emphasis on Black abolitionism. However, I found the writing awfully dry and the book required a lot of focus, so it was slow going.

An very, very detailed account of the history of abolition. Well researched and clearly written, with an exhaustive index available to find whatever it is you're looking for in this book.

326.80973 S61784s 2016