American Slavers cover art

American Slavers

Merchants, Mariners, and the Transatlantic Commerce in Captives, 1644–1865

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 15 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
More purchase options

American Slavers

By: Sean M. Kelley
Narrated by: Christopher Douyard
Get this deal

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £17.30

Buy Now for £17.30

The first telling of the unknown story of America's two-hundred-year history as a slave-trading nation

A total of 305,000 enslaved Africans arrived in the New World aboard American vessels over a span of two hundred years as American merchants and mariners sailed to Africa and to the Caribbean to acquire and sell captives. Using exhaustive archival research, including many collections that have never been used before, historian Sean M. Kelley argues that slave trading needs to be seen as integral to the larger story of American slavery.

Engaging with both African and American history and addressing the trade over time, Kelley examines the experience of captivity, drawing on more than a hundred African narratives to offer a portrait of enslavement in the regions of Africa frequented by American ships. Kelley also provides a social history of the two American ports where slave trading was most intensive, Newport and Bristol, Rhode Island.

In telling this tragic, brutal, and largely unknown story, Kelley corrects many misconceptions while leaving no doubt that Americans were a nation of slave traders.

©2023 Sean M. Kelley (P)2023 Tantor
Americas Maritime History & Piracy United States World Africa American History Latin American Caribbean
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet