Principles and Agents

“Easily the most scholarly, clear and persuasive analysis yet published of the rise to dominance of the British in the Atlantic slave trade—as well as the implementation of abolition when that dominance was at its peak.”—David Eltis, coauthor of Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

“David Richardson’s meticulous exploration of the rise and fall of the British slave trade offers a brilliant synthesis of the history and historiography of a pivotal development in world history.”—Seymour Drescher, author of Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery

“The most important recent single volume study of the slave trade, this is a book that commands attention. Richardson confronts a topic of great historical importance. It is a study conceived and executed with an intellectual verve and confidence.”—James Walvin, University of York

“An important and timely book that will appeal to the general reader interested in the history of the British slave trade and the abolition movement.”—Bronwen Everill, University of Cambridge