Freedom Burning: Anti-Slavery and Empire in Victorian by Richard Huzzey

After Britain abolished slavery all through such a lot of its empire in 1834, Victorians followed a creed of "anti-slavery" as an integral part in their nationwide identification and feel of ethical superiority to different civilizations. The British executive used international relations, strain, and violence to suppress the slave exchange, whereas the Royal military enforced abolition world wide and an nervous public debated the real tasks of an anti-slavery kingdom. This campaign used to be faraway from altruistic or compassionate, yet Richard Huzzey argues that it solid nationwide debates and political tradition lengthy after the well-known abolitionist campaigns of William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson had light into reminiscence. those anti-slavery passions formed racist and imperialist prejudices, new kinds of coerced hard work, and the growth of colonial possessions.

In a sweeping narrative that spans the globe, Freedom Burning explores the intersection of philanthropic, imperial, and financial pursuits that underlay Britain's anti-slavery zeal- from London to Liberia, the Sudan to South Africa, Canada to the Caribbean, and the British East India corporation to the accomplice States of the US. via cautious consciousness to pop culture, authentic documents, and personal papers, Huzzey rewrites the heritage of the British Empire and a century-long attempt to finish the worldwide exchange in human lives.