Bury the Chains

Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves

The front cover of the first edition (hardcover)
Author Adam Hochschild
Country United States
Language English
Genre
Publisher
Publication date
 January 7, 2005
Media type Print (hardback and paperback), e-book[3]
Pages 480
Awards
ISBN 9780618104697

Bury the Chains is a non-fiction book by Adam Hochschild that was first published on January 7, 2005.[1] The book is a narrative history of the late 18th- and early 19th-century anti-slavery movement in the British Empire.[4] It won the 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History[5] and the 2006 Lionel Gelber Prize.[6]

Synopsis

Bury the Chains follows a group of British abolitionist activists, including former slave ship captain John Newton, Granville Sharp, former slave Olaudah Equiano, James Stephen, English politician William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson,[7] who serves as the book's central figure.[8] The book chronicles their successful campaign to end slavery in the British Empire, from the formation of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787 through the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. Other key events covered include Somerset v Stewart in 1772, the establishment of Granville Town, Province of Freedom in 1787, the Haitian Revolution from 1791 to 1804, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 and the Napoleonic Wars that lasted from 1803 to 1815.[4]

Development

The topic for Bury the Chains stemmed from Adam Hochschild's initial idea to write a biography on John Newton, a slave trader turned abolitionist. In an interview with Mother Jones, Hochschild explained that: "Gradually, it dawned on me after three or four months of going up the wrong path that the story was the movement and not Newton."[9] Hochschild also noted that abolitionist campaigner Thomas Clarkson, the central figure in Bury the Chains,[8] had often been overlooked in favor of William Wilberforce. According to Hochschild, the firebrand Clarkson was "by far the more interesting figure" who "really got shortchanged by history."[9]

Hochschild conducted a lot of his research for the book in libraries, particularly the University of California, Berkeley Libraries and the Stanford University Libraries.[10] Hochschild's research also took him to England and western Jamaica to visit places where events in the book occurred. In England, he visited 2 George Yard in London, the address of the bookstore where the abolitionists held their meetings, now the location of a modern skyscraper.[10] In Jamaica, Hochschild visited the area where the slave rebellions took place so as to search for the remains of old sugar plantations.[9]

Reception

Critical response

Bury the Chains was well received. NPR's Maureen Corrigan selected the book as one of her favorite books of 2005.[11] Entertainment Weekly's Jennifer Reese gave the book an "A" grade, noting that in his "superb account", Hochschild "never lets exhaustive research clutter up a witty, wonderfully readable narrative."[12] The Daily Telegraph's Max Hastings noted that "the anecdotage is so rich, and Hochschild is such a gifted researcher and story-teller, that he never fails to hold the reader's attention." Hastings concluded that: "For all its terrible theme, Hochschild's book is not in the least depressing, because it is suffused with admiration for the courage and enlightenment of the men and women who crusaded against this evil, and finally prevailed."[7] Writing for The Guardian, Robin White agreed that, "This is a wonderful book, full of richness and colour - a celebration of many people's achievements. It's a testimony to both evil and goodness: a story in which, for once, goodness wins."[2]

According to The A.V. Club's Donna Bowman: "Bury the Chains serves as both a thrilling history of the movement to abolish Britain's slave trade, and a case study of moral evolution...Bury the Chains trains a microscope on the fossil record of human-rights activism, and identifies a missing link between Enlightenment politics and 21st-century non-governmental organizations."[13]

In recent years, Bury the Chains has attracted some attention from climate change activists, who see some analogies between the antislavery campaign and their campaign. Articles citing the book and making this connection have appeared in The Nation,[14] The Ecologist[15] and the academic journal Climatic Change.[16]

Accolades

Bury the Chains won the 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History,[5] the Gold Medal for Nonfiction at the 2005 California Book Awards,[17] the 2006 PEN Center USA Literary Award in the Research Nonfiction category[18] and the 2006 Lionel Gelber Prize.[6] The book was also a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 "Bury the Chains - Kirkus Review". Kirkus Reviews. November 1, 2004. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  2. 1 2 White, Robin (February 12, 2005). "Abolishing evil". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ "Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves (official publisher's page)". Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Brown, Christopher Leslie (2007). "Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves (review)". Journal of Social History. 41 (1): 200–202. ISSN 1527-1897.
  5. 1 2 "2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winners". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 6, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Book about campaign to end slavery wins Gelber Prize". CBC.ca. March 8, 2006. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Hastings, Max (February 8, 2005). "The men who unchained the slaves". The Telegraph.
  8. 1 2 Berlatsky, Noah (February 17, 2005). "Wishful History". Chicago Reader.
  9. 1 2 3 Gilson, Dave (January 10, 2005). "Bury the Chains: An Interview with Adam Hochschild". Mother Jones.
  10. 1 2 Perlah, Jeff (January 5, 2005). "Bury the Chains -- A Gripping Look at Early Human Rights Activism". American Booksellers Association.
  11. ↑ Corrigan, Maureen (December 22, 2005). "Books 2005: Maureen Corrigan's Favorites". NPR.
  12. ↑ Reese, Jennifer (January 10, 2005). "Bury the Chains". Entertainment Weekly.
  13. ↑ Bowman, Donna (April 5, 2005). "Adam Hochschild: Bury The Chains: Prophets And Rebels In The Fight To Free An Empire's Slaves". The A.V. Club.
  14. ↑ Mark Hertsgaard (September 30, 2010). "Slavery & Climate Change". The Nation. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  15. ↑ Mouhot, Jean-Francois (December 29, 2010). "Climate change: we are like slave owners". The Ecologist. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Bury the chains and the carbon dioxide". Climatic Change. 85 (3–4): 473–475. May 23, 2007. ISSN 1573-1480. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  17. ↑ "The California Book Awards: Past Winners". commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  18. ↑ "PEN Center USA literary awards & festival: past winners and honorees". penusa.org. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  19. ↑ Wyatt, Edward (October 13, 2005). "National Book Awards Names Finalists". The New York Times.
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