One of the finest studies of slavery and abolition to appear in many years.A Eric Foner, Dissident The first historian since Eric Williams to present a comprehensive interpretation. But Blackburn, profiting from and admirably synthesising the vast scholarship produced since Capitalism and Slavery (1944), is far less rigid and doctrinaire, much more attuned to the workings of politics. Unlike Williams, he includes slavery throughout the Western hemisphere.A David Brion Vavis, New York Review of Books A challenge to those who fondly suppose that slavery declined as ideas of Western 'enlightenment' spread - Blackburn deserves praise for undermining complacency about the past-and the present.A Christopher Hitchens, New York Newsday An incisive synthesis of developments in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. Blackburn's book is bold and original.A Richard Dunn, Times Literary Supplement Blackburn's highly intelligent and well-written book is a substantial contribution. In this story the central event is the French Revolution.A Victor Kiernen, London Review of Books
