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  • The Interest

  • How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery
  • By: Michael Taylor
  • Narrated by: James MacCallum
  • Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (34 ratings)
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The Interest cover art

The Interest

By: Michael Taylor
Narrated by: James MacCallum
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

For 200 years, the abolition of slavery in Britain has been a cause for self-congratulation - but no longer.

In 1807, Parliament outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire, but for the next quarter of a century, despite heroic and bloody rebellions, more than 700,000 people in the British colonies remained enslaved. And when a renewed abolitionist campaign was mounted, making slave ownership the defining political and moral issue of the day, emancipation was fiercely resisted by the powerful 'West India Interest'. Supported by nearly every leading figure of the British establishment - including Canning, Peel and Gladstone, The Times and Spectator - the Interest ensured that slavery survived until 1833 and that when abolition came at last, compensation worth £340 billion in today's money was given not to the enslaved but to the slaveholders, entrenching the power of their families to shape modern Britain to this day. 

Drawing on major new research, this long-overdue and groundbreaking history provides a gripping narrative account of the tumultuous and often violent battle - between rebels and planters, between abolitionists and the pro-slavery establishment - that divided and scarred the nation during these years of upheaval. The Interest reveals the lengths to which British leaders went to defend the indefensible in the name of profit, showing that the ultimate triumph of abolition came at a bitter cost and was one of the darkest and most dramatic episodes in British history.

©2020 Michael Taylor (P)2020 Penguin Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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scintilating

A Fascinating read from beginning to end, beautifully narrated.The end of slavery clearly illustrated and the major players revealed.

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5 people found this helpful

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  • Jo
  • 13-12-20

Listen to this

Excellent! A real eye opener. We all need to become aware of this history and challenge those who have obscured it from us.

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4 people found this helpful

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A panacea in our current political times

This book should be on the national
Curriculum. As a Black English person or Caribbean origin, I will be sharing this book with members of my own family. It is well written and thought provoking. I felt quite transformed and renewed by the end of it. In recent weeks I have despaired at the state of our political climate but I can now see that there is still much to strive for.

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Should be part of the national curriculum

Very informative.
Why were we not taught about slavery at school?
A must read, gripping.

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stunning in its breadth

Coherently structured with a readily listenable narrative, - excellent. it's perhaps the sheer extent of the involvement of the hierarchy interest in keeping slavery, resisting abolitionist movements and protecting its own ifimamcial holdings from the very top that's laid to bare and so overwhelming. An important backdrop to anyone who refutes the legacy of slavery today.

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Essential for anyone who is interested in British history

Absolutely essential history for anyone who wants it. It’s got stuff about Canning I wasn’t taught for a level.

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The twisted history of abolition

Finally, the full history of the abolition movement is told. The opponents to it are revealed as powerful figures intertwined with the establishment.

The moral religious and financial aspects of the movement and the resistance to it are explained as is the impact of slave revolts in the Caribbean and internal politics in Britain. The book features key examples of the barbarity of the slave trade and slave holding, while also discussing key aspects of slave rebellions.

In a detailed assessment of the abolition movement the financial interests that formed the opposition to It are discussed at length.

The book concludes with a compelling assessment of the movement for reparations not just in a moral sense but in a practical sense.

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