About the Author

James Walvin is professor emeritus, University of York, and a world authority on transatlantic slavery. Among his many previous books are Black Ivory: Slavery in the British Empire and The Trader, The Owner, The Slave: Parallel Lives in the Age of Slavery. He lives in York, UK.

Reviews

'Few who have studied the Atlantic slave trade are unaware of the infamous story of the Zong, when in 1781 over 130 enslaved Africans were thrown overboard alive in order that the ship's owners might claim insurance on them. James Walvin's achievement is firmly to locate this notorious episode within the larger history of the British slave trade as well as the beginnings of the movement to abolish it. This is Walvin at his best.' - David Richardson, co-author of Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

'A lucid, fluent and fascinating account of the Zong. The book details the horror of the mass killing of enslaved Africans on board the ship in 1781. But it also does much more: The Zong places the ship, the slave trade and the subsequent campaign of the abolitionists in their historical and contemporary context.' - Gad Heuman, co-editor of The Routledge History of Slavery