Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World1400 1800Studies in Comparative World History 2nd (Second) Edition

Studies in Comparative World History

by John K. Thornton

Focusing especially on the causes and consequences of the slave trade, in Africa, in Europe, and in the New World, this book explores Africa's involvement in the Atlantic world from the 15th through the 18th centuries. Author John Thornton examines the dynamics that made slaves so necessary to European colonizers. This new edition contains an added chapter on 18th-century developments.

Genres: History, Africa, Nonfiction, World History, Academic, Latin American History, School

Paperback

First published April 24, 1992

About the author

A specialist in the history of Africa, the African Diaspora and the Atlantic world, John K. Thornton is professor of African American Studies and History at Boston University.

Reviews

[JRT · Rating 5 out of 5]

What role did African people play in the development of the modern Atlantic world? What degree of autonomy did they have, and what was the ultimate impact on Africa and Africans (continental and diasporic)? “Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World,” written by scholar of African history John Thornton, provides a precise, in-depth reorientation of the role Africa and African people played in the events of the development of the modern world, diligently seeking to answer the above-stated questions in the process. This book firmly establishes African people—more specifically, African ruling classes in the many states in West-Central Africa—as self-determined actors fully committed to making their own decisions and controlling their own destinies. In doing so, Thornton sets out to upend conventional wisdom about how and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade began and intensified, and how diasporic Africans managed to maintain some semblance of traditional African culture.

Thornton begins by tracing the various explanations for Europe’s motives for exploration of the “New World” during the 15th Century, and how Europe ultimately came to dominate Atlantic trade relations. Thornton notes that Europe did not ascend to its elevated position due to any inherent civilizational superiority, but rather, due to economic and political imperatives stemming from geography. In short, Europeans—first led by private merchants and then state sanctioned agents—needed to leave their homelands (and develop the capabilities to do so) in order to obtain the wealth and political power necessary to maintain their societies. To the contrary, while African rulers may have also wanted to increase their wealth and power via overseas trade, they weren’t driven by the same imperative because West-Central Africa already had the resources that Europe and others coveted. Along these same lines, Thornton does a great job explaining how European technological advances, including Naval power, did not afford them with any real military dominance or advantage over pre-colonial African states, and in fact, Africans were able to largely dictate the terms of trade with Europeans during the parties’ sustained early encounters in the 15th and 16th Centuries.

Throughout the book Thornton does a good job demonstrating how the national imperatives of various competing ruling classes in Europe and Africa outweighed what most modern observers assume about racial solidarity and unity. It is clear that African nations and rulers did not see Africans outside of their national sphere as a part of the same racial group, or if they did it wasn’t sufficient to manifest in any unified political agenda pertaining to relations with Europeans. Thornton explains how sociopolitical fragmentation in Africa was at the root of Africa’s complicity in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. In dispelling the myth that Europe imposed the slave trade on unwilling African elites, Thornton demonstrates the economic and military self-sufficiency of pre-colonial Africa, concluding that Europe was simply not capable of forcing the various African states to engage in trade against its will, as Africa was not in need of any “essential goods” from Europe, and was not yet overpowered by European weaponry. As such, Thornton spends much time showing that the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was a voluntary (among various African rulers, not the masses) “outgrowth” of the domestic slave trade that had long been institutionalized in Africa by African rulers. While never explicitly stated, Thornton’s research makes clear that African rulers carry a high degree of responsibility for opening the door to Europeans to attach themselves to the Indigenous African slave trade, ultimately expanding the trade to devastating proportions.

In explaining the development of African slave trading from domestic institutions used to centralize African ruling class power and concentration of personal wealth, to an international institution used to support Europe’s colonial endeavors in the Americas, Thornton identifies African conceptions of land and labor as the central reasons for the expansion of the slave trade. Because land in Africa was traditionally viewed as communal and not subject to privatization and commodification, African societies used a complex system of collective ownership of individual labor in order to build wealth for an organized few. This system essentially institutionalized forced labor, although it took a much different (and relatively benign) form than what Europeans would develop in the Americas. This African socioeconomic model differed from European feudalism, which focused entirely on the private ownership of land as the basis of wealth. Thornton notes that both the European and African models of wealth creation were exploitative, and Europe was able to attach itself to the African model in its desire to meet its demand for slaves in the Americas. Thus, while Portugal’s initial incursion into Africa did involve much slave raiding and military excursions (much of which were thwarted by African military might), Portugal ultimately realized it would be far easier to pursue its goals by following the lead of African rulers, rather than attempting a unilateral imposition. Of course, this does not take away from the fact that Portugal did use force when it suited its needs—such as the case of the colony of Angola—but even then it worked with the African ruling class in the Kingdom of Kongo to help it ward off the Ndongo empire to establish and protect the colony.

Overall, this book provides many gems and nuggets of important information, and discusses numerous facets of African Atlantic life (see the great discussion on Maroonage!). Thornton provided a comprehensive analysis of African autonomy and presence on both sides of the Atlantic, theorizing how enslaved Africans in the Americas managed to translate and fuse traditional cultural practices into traits that were apt to continue on plantations in the New World. Thornton located African agency in almost everything, from the political and economic self-sufficiency of the various pre-colonial African nations, to religious conversion, to resistance and self-determination, to diasporic cultural dissemination. According to Thornton's research, African people had a say and remained very much human during this entire period, rather than mere objects of European utilization as many common narratives would have it. Despite all this (or perhaps because of it), the book does come dangerously close to blaming Africans (or at least the African ruling classes) for the ultimate tragedy of the Maafa. In depicting Europe’s lack of ability to force the African ruling classes to expand the slave trade, Thornton comes close to letting Europe off the hook for unimaginable crimes against humanity. This could have been avoided had the book included brief passages on Europe’s fundamentally anti-Black ideology and view of African people, which informed and justified their movements and decisions as much as anything else. Nevertheless, if you want to an understanding of the modern world developed that is grounded in historical reality, rather than contemporary political objectives, I highly recommend this book.

[Bob Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Path-breaking Synthesis of Atlantic History

Admiring Braudel is no bad way to get started on a project of your own. If that project ultimately "does a Braudel" itself, so much the better. When I was an undergraduate I studied Japan and Southeast Asia, but then wound up concerned with India for most of my life. Latin America and the former Ottoman realms also interested me over many years. I always marvelled that Southeast Asianists resisted studying India; that China experts ignored Korea or Southeast Asia; that Middle East specialists stopped at Iran. And so on. Nice little boxes for everyone to preside over. I reckon history is broader and messier. So----whenever I find a history that dares to move outside those boxes, I feel very glad. When they are as interesting as Thornton's book, it certainly is a pleasure.

First off let me say that this book has some very interesting maps. However, there is no bibliography. The reader must glean the sources from the copious footnotes which, luckily, are all confined to the bottom of pages. Secondly, there is no concluding chapter, no summing up of all the insights and truths the author learned over his many years of study. The book ends very abruptly. Be that as it may, the rest is great.

Thornton does not accept the standard explanations for anything, does not "go with the flow". He challenges the many historians of the past who either excused or brushed aside the slave trade or tried to blame it on "imperialism". Immediately, he pooh-poohs the romantic version of why Europeans wanted to explore and develop commerce. He calls the slow advance of Portuguese navigation "the cautious advance of a new frontier, using or slightly modifying existing technology, and relying on relatively small amounts of private capital." (p.35) He points out that Europeans trading in Africa had to supply luxury goods because African economies were not deficient in any essential item. Also, European naval power up to the 19th century was not strong enough to dominate the African coast or change African societies. Therefore, he says, we should ramp up our estimate of the role Africans played in the formation of the whole Atlantic world. They were not passive victims, but conscious actors in history. Though slavery was an abomination, there is little point in assigning blame for it to one group of people.

Slavery was of course the major point of cultural contact between Africa and the Americas. Thornton takes an original point of view on slavery within African society, on the slave trade, and on the role of slaves in the Americas. He holds that as slavery was the basis of the economy in most African states---because the idea of "landownership" did not exist---owning slaves was the equal to owning land/property in Europe. Slave raids were thus the equivalent of wars of conquest in Europe, because people, not land, were needed. Africans were not under any direct economic pressure to deal in slaves because a) Europeans couldn't force them to do so and b) they didn't NEED European goods, but wanted them. Up to 1700, the Europeans only tapped existing slave markets. These are only a few ideas in a book packed with them. There are long discussions of the fragmentation of coastal Africa into dozens of small states with only a few big ones, usually inland; about African culture and religion, and then the connection of slavery to the making of societies in North and South America and in the Caribbean. We read his ideas about the process of slavery and the economic, politico-military, and socio-cultural contributions that Africans made to the New World. There is even a chapter entitled "Resistance, Runaways, and Rebels". All in all, this is a wonderful book on the whole topic. If you are concerned with the role of Africans in the Americas, you can't fail to read AFRICA AND AFRICANS:.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seminal work in the history of Africa and the Atlantic world. I consider it a must-read for any student of world history. Although the writing style can become tedious when Thornton goes into his habit of grocery-listing example after example (really, how many times do I need to read about many lbs of cloth were exported in such and such year in order to get his larger point?), careful readers will learn immensely from Thornton's expert argumentation.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy to skim, but not exactly the most engaging writing. Nicely situates "Africa" (to use a totalizing term) as an equal partner in the emergence of the Atlantic world.

[Alexander Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Thornton’s main goals in writing this book are to assess African migration to the New World and to refute the notion that Africans were a passive victim that suffered from European dominance. Rather, Thornton asserts that “Africans were active participants in the Atlantic world” (6). Thornton refutes the idea that Africans were more or less forced into the slave trade to obtain essential commodities. Unlike in Europe where land was the principle form of wealth producing property, slaves were the most important property in Africa. Thus, slaves were an integral part of the African economy. Europeans tapped into this already existent market. Many items that Africans traded for were mostly used as luxury goods rather than necessities, so African rulers could chose to leave the slave trade with Europeans if they so desired. Consequently, Thornton also views the idea that trade with Europeans stunted the growth of the African economy. Rather, Thornton argues that the African market produced every item that they needed.
Another area where European coercion is assumed is with African conversion to Christianity. Once again, Thornton views religion as an area in which give and take occurred. Both Catholicism and African religions were based strongly on revelations so the two religions could understand one another’s world view, making conversion and a creation of an African Christianity easier.
Thornton’s main point throughout the book is to stress that Africa was an equal player in the Atlantic World. Europeans may have had superior ocean going ships, but they could still only trade with permission of African rulers.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cover is... questionable.

That said, the book is nowhere near as racially dodgy as the cover might suggest. First part aims at a Braudelian total history of the Atlantic world; second half discusses African agency in the Atlantic slave trade, as traders and as slaves. Grants tremendous agency to Africans, arguing that the Atlantic economy was not always and incommensurably dominated by Europe.

[Sara-Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book reminds me of a professor i once saw lecture. he specialized in the history of the atlantic slave trade and said the most difficult thing about his discipline was that too many books come out a year and, darn it all, he can't read everything.

[Scott Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the opening of the Atlantic slave trade between the years 1400-1680. As the title indicates, the emphasis is on African culture and society, rather than European.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an example of some of the tensions that are inherent within revisionist history.  This book is an able if somewhat highly technical and not nearly source-driven enough effort at demonstrating the importance of Africans in navigating the complexities of the development of the Atlantic world of slavery.  As someone who reads from time to time about African history [1], I do not tend to feel myself as having a personal stake in the arguments over the role of Africa in the history of Europe and the Americas, their partners in the Atlantic world.  Yet I was struck by how this book gave something to its (likely) African or African-American audience with one hand while taking away with the other.  Specifically, this book grants agency to Africans and African-Americans while simultaneously undercutting any sort of claims that such people would have to claim reparations from the United States or European nations for slavery.  For if African nations were in charge of the trade and controlled it internally and if African-American survivors retained their agency in negotiating at the margins of plantation societies despite being unfree, where then are the grounds for seeking reparations from those who already paid for the souls they purchased at the cost of so much blood and treasure?

This book is a bit more than 300 pages long and is divided into two parts and eleven chapters.  After a preface to the second introduction that explains how the project morphed from being a very textually-based study to one that was more general and more broad in its date ranges to make it better for serving as a textbook for relevant courses, and some very interesting maps, the author manages to include some source notes to justify the boundaries on his maps about African regimes.  The first part of the book consists of four chapters that examine the agency of Africans concerning their trade with Europeans in Africa, including chapters about the birth of an Atlantic world (1), the development of prestige commerce between Europeans and Africans (2), the role of slavery in African social structure (3), and the process of enslavement and the slave trade (4).  The remaining seven chapters look at Africans in the New World with a discussion of Africans in colonial American societies (5), Africans and African Americans in the Atlantic world (6), African cultural groups (7), transformations of African culture (8), African religions and their relationship to Christianity (9), resistance, running away, and rebellion (10), and Africans in the eighteenth century Atlantic world (11).

This is a book that is likely to simultaneously please and displease its target audience.  On the one hand, those who wish to celebrate Africa's historical greatness will find much to appreciate in the commentary of African political and economic strength and their ability to control the terms on which they traded with Europeans in the period before 1800.  Likewise, such people are likely to find a great deal that is pleasing in the author's insistence that Africans were able to preserve a great deal of their own culture and language in colonial cultures despite the horrors of slavery and the middle passage.  That said, there are consequences of this appeal to resilience and agency.  Defending the power and humanity and agency of Africans in the past makes present problems more difficult to simply blame on imperialists, slaveowners, or descendants of Europeans and Euro-Americans who benefit from some sort of historical white privilege.  If it was Africans who set the terms of their engagement with European trading, including the slave trade, and the slave trade did not really demographically harm Africa and was not coerced on Africa, what do you have to complain about now?  It is likely this book, precisely because of its praise to Africans and their power in economic relationships with European merchants, will not be highly praised by those who want to claim victim status in the contemporary world over precisely the matters this book speaks about in such a weighty manner.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

[Sam Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really like Thorton's thesis and the revolutionary view of African independence rather than massive dependence on Europeans.

[Simon Kissam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this certainly was an interesting read. As others have noted, very meticulous work with impressive citations (though I was annoyed at the lack of bibliography at the back of the book. Obviously citations are still impressive, but would've been nice to have sources all in one place).

Thornton makes a necessary corrective about the agency of Africans in the slave trade and the agency of African-Americans once brought across the Atlantic. Probably when this was first published, it was even more needed than now. For that, the sources, and the writing style, it's a good book. I also think his arguments about African agency in the slave trade probably stand up much better in the 1400-1680 period than 1680-1800, so perhaps I would rank the first edition more favorably.

That said, I think this book has serious problems in terms of downplaying the harm that the Atlantic slave trade caused Africa continentally and the enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Americas. At one point Thornton actually writes "many slaves had a fairly good life" when talking about enslaved in urban/domestic environments. He acknowledges the horror of the middle passage, but is quick to insist that it was only "temporarily debilitating". While I can't fully argue with Thornton on these points - he likely is technically correct- the impact of such statements are concerning. I don't think Thornton is attempting to make a pro-enslavement or anti-Black argument, but he does give ammunition to those who believe Europeans and Euro-Americans are blameless in the suffering caused by colonial slavery. It's also hard to fully believe his argument that the Atlantic slave trade was not demographically harmful to Africa when he extends the book to 1800, and that European economic pressure on Africa did not greatly increase in 1680-1800. He still mostly claims these things in the last chapter, but has much less evidence than when writing about 1400-1680.

Definitely a worthwhile read, Thornton presents a lot to think about, but if read with a critical eye it has some faults.

[Hugolane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems like it was an important book when it came out. It has been superseded now by Toby Green's somewhat more substantial _A Handful of Shells_. Had I read it when I first took it out of the library it would have had more effect, but I ended up reading Green's book first. Still, it is concise, and is not quite so burdened with fairly high level academic rhetoric, such that I could actually see assigning this book at some point in the future. In any case, it does do a good job of confronting some of the myths that have developed around the slave trade and Europeans relations with Africa in ways that Green definitely built on. That said, I don't know Thorton's race, but as a person of European dissent who teaches primarily students who are not, I do wonder if maybe I find it convenient to accept the view that Africans were willing participants in the slave trade? That isn't to say that Thorton or Green is wrong when they make that argument, but I do wonder how to convey that argument to my students without it coming off as self-serving.

[Danilo Lipisk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel that the subject discussed in the first half of this book, African participation in the slave trade, is currently considered taboo. Wokeland seems to want to minimize the subject into "victim (the Africans) and perpetrator (the Europeans)." The author discusses how Africans actively participated in the slave trade, often negotiating the terms and selecting which prisoners of war or individuals would be sold.

The central thesis of the book is that Africans were not merely passive victims of the slave trade. And no, the author does not "seek to blame the victim" (the enslaved) for their cruel fate during the Atlantic crossing.

The second part of the book, equally interesting and important, explores how Africans transported elements of their cultures to the New World, such as languages, religions, agricultural practices, and social structures.

This is one of the best books on the history of black slavery that I have read.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thornton's goal is to show the influence of Africa and Africans on the larger Atlantic world. First, he does something that I'm sure angers many people--he believes that Africans were a lot less influenced by Europe and America in regards to slavery. But on the positive side, he gives African cultures more agency rather than seeing them as easily manipulated. Now it's obvious that if demand increases, prices go up and there is more incentive for people to "join" the market in selling other human beings. But he does try to limit the influence to this factor.

His argument is more interesting when he talks about the carrying over of African languages and cultural traits to other countries. To do this, he tries to analyze the origins of the populations in different areas and shows frequent overlap (with people from the same area with the same language often living close together).

[Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impactful with chapters on differing origins, causes, and cultures. Main points- Europeans didn't force Africans to sell slaves, Africans were not economically or militarily inferior to whites in Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries. The book also talks about Africans bringing culture to the Americas as musicians, artists, and priests. The book focuses mostly on 16th and 17th centuries and the new edition includes a much more cursory chapter on the 18th century but one that helps to tie the book together. Very academic and presumes a strong knowledge of African geography and history. Written primarily through an exhaustive reading of primary sources.

[Ben Marchman · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an attempt to give agency, this book fails to fully account for the atrocities committed by European powers in the slave trade. The first part of this book critically re-examines the narrative of the supplicant and weak African tribes as powerful forces able to hold their own against European powers and engage in trade on their own terms. Yet in his attempt to extend that agency across the Atlantic, Thornton fails to sufficiently describe or recount the brutal and dehumanizing conditions suffered by slaves in the “New World”. Ending an otherwise fantastic book on a sad note for many intimately aware of this history.

[Jason Chiang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read. It covered quite a bit about various African peoples, the roles of the African kingdoms, the role of European colonialists, and a great level of detail about the African-Americans taken/ sold as slaves. It was interesting to learn about the various tribes/ nations of Africans who were brought to the Americas/ Caribbean and to get a better understanding of their relative populations compared to European colonialists in the New World, and their role in forming new societies in the Americas.

[Jeff Koslowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very well written and deals a lot with how complex and strong African societies were both before and during the African slave trade. The only knock I have is that it gets too scholarly at points so it's not the easiest of reads. If you have a real interest in the subject, however, this is a true expert writing about his area of expertise.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapter 9 in particular was of interest to me as it addressed how African religion and Christianity were practiced in the 'Atlantic World'

[James Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the classics of Atlantic history. I'm a big fan of several of Thornton's works.

[Yasmine Flodin-Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heavily skimmed the second half, need to re-read.

[Garret Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researches book that grants Africans, especially African elites, more agency in the making of the New World.

[Letizia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro interessante per approfondire e scoprire nuove cose sul tema della tratta degli schiavi

[Shaun Nicholls · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great points but it wasn’t really what I was looking for.

[Zachary Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great summary of the African role in the creation of the Atlantic World. The first part of the book is about Africa. Thornton complicates the "guns for slaves" explanation for slavery. Value in Africa is inhered in people, not land (Europe), or resources (America). These value forms combined to create Atlantic slavery--my favorite explanation thus far. Shows how just like in Europe, the trade and power in African society benefitted the elites at the expense of poor people. One of Thornton's main thrusts is to show that until the nineteenth century Africa really controlled its own affairs, and that the Atlantic trade in slaves, or whatever, supplemented long existing networks of trade or politics. He really goes against the notion that the Atlantic slave trade negatively impacted the African continent, saying that claims that trade in slaves fueled new wars and destabilized polities are not based in evidence. African states controlled trade with Europeans, and as long as they got their money, they would trade with whomever, so Portuguese attempts to monopolize trade for their benefit did not occur. The second part of the book covers African slavery in the all the Americas, and Thornton's major intervention is that African people maintained their culture in the face of terrible challenges, and mixed it with whatever part of the New World they inhabited. He's on the fence in the destruction/persistence cultural debate. Thornton points out that differences between African groups is over exaggerated, and that slaves could easily find commonality with a "nation" united by language. This slowly fades away as the slave trade declines, but is very relevant post 1650 through the eighteenth century. An interesting thing he points out is that creolization started in Africa, as groups used Portuguese as a lingua franca to facilitate trade. He's also less aggressive than Walter Rucker, who sees African resistance as more economically motivated--he points to how maroon communities were quite hierarchical (hardly the revolutionary antithesis to slave societies), and that slaves often bartered their own freedom if the conditions were right--not some coherent Africanaiety driving them

[Deanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the premise of Thornton's book, that Africa entered into the Trans-Continental Slave Trade willingly, to be somewhat controversial, though well-supported with primary sources.

Thornton first establishes that the slave trade within Africa was an essential element of the economy. The number of slaves, like goods, represented wealth. When Africans were offered the trade of slaves for foreign goods from the Europeans, this was not a far departure from the way they normally conducted business; however, the idea of slavery in Africa vs. the despicable horror that passed for slavery in Europe and the Americas was vastly different. In Africa, slaves were treated very much like family. They slept in the same homes as their owners, ate the same quality food, and worked together side by side. That was certainly not the case for the slaves transported across the Atlantic. Thornton then follows these slaves into America and discusses how they were able to maintain some of their native customs during the worst of conditions.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I (supposedly) read this for the first time during the summer of 2008. In retrospect, and given the lack of notations after the Intro, I doubt that I did. What a shame that I didn't do so! This book is an excellent resource on Africa and a must-read in the Atlantic World category. In a series of 11 stand alone chapters, divided into 2 sections, Thornton first focused on the political and social structures of Africans along the West Coast of Africa (the ones most impacted by the slave trade) and then in the second half, examined how these African roots contributed to the construction of the Colonial Atlantic. This book reminded me how sadly little I know about Africa and how much more reading in that area I need to do! This will be a major resource for future lecture material. (True rating 4.5 stars)

[Dan Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinarily well researched. John Thornton argues that Africans had economic agency in the Atlantic World and were not coerced into trading with Europeans. He also argues that African national identities were not destroyed outright in American slavery, although new groups like churches and clubs replaced the nation/tribe as key social arrangements over time. The point of the book is to show the strength of Africans in Africa and the ingenuity of African and creole slaves in the Americas. This book has become a classic textbook for students, but it gets so bogged down into detail at points that you can see why Thornton originally intended the book to be a reference work.

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is extremely well researched (except for the last chapter: only one primary resource in there!). If you look in the notes section of the book in its entirety, there are archaeological and written documents spanning seven language and multiple religious records- Inquisition records, Muslim documents. Like wow. Good job Thornton. But can I just say that maybe it's a bit naive of him to have no disclaimer or to not address that, you know, racists shouldn't take this book and use it to further their own horrible goals. Because this book is kind of a perfect storm for that. C’mon Thornton. You should know better you polyglot.

[Lalena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book challenges the assumption that Africa was a backward, savage continent making it an easy target for greedy Eurpean slave traders. You will think differently about the nature of the transatlantic slave trade after reading this book.