Traders in Men: Merchants and the Transformation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

by Nicholas Radburn

A sweeping new history that reveals how British, African, and American merchants developed the transatlantic slave trade
 
“This is a landmark study given its clear status as easily the best researched and most comprehensive book on the British slave trade to date.”—David Eltis, coauthor of Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
 
“A masterful account of one of the most brutal moments in the history of capitalist modernity. Radburn brilliantly details all aspects of the process of commodification of human beings in the Liverpool slave trade, vividly depicting the long journeys endured by Africans in Africa, across the Atlantic, and in the Americas.”—Leonardo Marques, Universidade Federal Fluminense
 
During the eighteenth century, Britain’s slave trade exploded in size. Formerly a small and geographically constricted business, the trade had, by the eve of the American Revolution, grown into a transatlantic system through which fifty thousand men, women, and children were enslaved every year.
 
In this wide-ranging history, Nicholas Radburn explains how thousands of merchants collectively transformed the slave trade by devising highly efficient but violent new business methods. African brokers developed commercial infrastructure that facilitated the enslavement and sale of millions of people. Britons invented shipping methods that quelled enslaved people’s constant resistance on the Middle Passage. And American slave traders formulated brutal techniques through which shiploads of people could be quickly sold to colonial buyers. Truly Atlantic-wide in its vision, this study shows how the slave trade dragged millions of people into its terrible vortex and became one of the most important phenomena in world history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World History, Race

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 25, 2023

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicholas Radburn's 'Traders in Men' provides a ground-breaking analysis of Britain's involvement in the slave trade between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries from an entirely new perspective: the traders themselves. Encompassing activities on both sides of the Atlantic, in Africa and the Americas, as well as on the Middle Passage, he takes the reader on a detailed and sometimes harrowing journey, considering aspects and sources of information that have previously been overlooked.

It is perhaps surprising that there has been such a gap in knowledge about the trade before now: given the current political emphasis on addressing the wrongs of the past, one might have expected well-informed, relevant books to be flooding the market. Then again, perhaps not. Part of the problem lies within academic circles, with raging and sometimes personal debates about the nature of the study itself. Those who use quantitative analyses, based on enormous datasets, run the risk of accusations of dehumanizing or sanitizing what everyone can agree was an awful business. But those who rely purely on qualitative data and personal accounts can be accused of being blinkered, too narrow in focus to be able to draw any conclusions. Radburn, however, has discovered a workable, and convincing, compromise by combining both the qualitative and quantitative into an overarching whole.

The work involved in this, even for a monograph, is astounding. 'Traders in Men' mines every available data source, from diaries, logs and newspaper advertisements, through paintings and propaganda, to international databases that are eye-watering in scale. This account of the British slave trade is therefore so exceptionally thorough that it could be described as a magnum opus - if Radburn weren't quite so young. All those previously ignored aspects - African merchants, Guinea factors, the processes of acquisition and sale that changed so much over time - are shown to be essential elements in growing and defining the trade. In incorporating so many sources and so many stages, Radburn has altered the academic study of the slave trade for good.

Despite all this, 'Traders in Men' is not overwhelming. The book is a sensible length and well-written, with the drier details saved for a number of appendices. There might, however, have been room for more comparative study of practices between the European nations. Although Radburn provides a justification for focusing solely on British involvement, it does leave the reader wanting. As he states, the Portuguese, for example, started far earlier and enslaved far more people than the British. Yes, the argument that Portugal actually had less of an impact is accepted, but the British trade did not grow in isolation. Nor did it 'triumph' in isolation. The European context was an essential element to all British forays in trade - from slaving to tea to opium. Competition with enemies and so-called 'friends' pushed the empire and the economy to expand, while wars - of which there were many - allowed territories and trade routes to change hands, frequently impacting the trade in people. There is the risk in overcomplicating the book by following these tangents, but it might well have been a risk worth taking.

Of course, balance in any book is important, and balance when discussing such a controversial and laden subject can be particularly difficult. But as with that compromise between sources, Radburn has managed to tread a careful middle path through the minefield that the legacy of the slave trade has laid. The pedantic might potentially complain about the use of emotive language in a monograph, albeit one with popular appeal, and it can often be better to let the history speak for itself rather than trumpet today's issues too loudly. Yet these issues are minor and easily ignored, if noticed at all. Radburn handles his topic sensitively and wisely, with an attempt to understand his subjects - the traders in men who selfishly chased profit above honour, compassion, humanity - as products of their own time, rather than ours. 'Traders in Men' is eye-opening and thought-provoking; it is a brilliant synthesis of the available information in all its forms; and it is a firm reminder about the lengths the greedy will go to in the pursuit of wealth.

[Eavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly clear and concise history of the everyday workings of the transatlantic slave trade. Written in a perfectly academic-but accessible way, Radburn never speaks down to his readers, instead letting the facts illustrate the horrors of this practice in a broad but concentrated scope. I learned a lot, and I appreciated the choice to synthesize both the qualitative and quantitative information of the practice (though I wish there was a bit more than just Equiano!). I ended up down a rabbit hole of the author's research, including the 3D ship renderings, and everything I've learned only feels that much more impactful.

Anyway, I cannot believe I found this as an audiobook through the LAPL. An amazing, amazing treat, reminiscent of finds such as They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South and Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom. These are the history books to rave about!

[W M · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many works on the transatlantic slave trade, but I was blown away by this logistical study of the British Slave trade. Fantastic trends and correlations shed light on such a terrible period of our history. Its scope is definitely Atlantic wide, connecting both Africa and the New World in an emerging historical trend.

[John Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential book for understanding the British Atlantic slave trade. I went to grad school with the author and can tell you from close observation that he knows the topic inside out. He is unparalleled as a researcher.