num_pages: 416
description: Eighteenth-century Britain was the world's leading exponent of the slave trade: profits soared and among the beneficiaries were the Church of England and London's Tate Gallery. Yet in the space of a few short years, beginning in 1788, a group of Abolitionists moved the cause of anti-slavery to the very centre of British political life, from the floor of Parliament to the homes of 300,000 people boycotting Caribbean sugar. At their head was Thomas Clarkson, a divinity student who travelled 35,000 miles on horseback documenting abuses, talking to supporters, and evading attempts on his life. With Granville Sharp and James Phillips he founded the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and gave platforms to freed slaves such as Olaudah Equiano, who had experienced the horrors in full. Clarkson's movement resembled nothing England had ever seen before: outside both Parliament and Church, it was the first major embodiment of the forces that today we call civil society, and Hochschild, drawing on the voluminous letters and journals of the characters involved, brings it compellingly to life.
language: English
title: Bury the Chains
titlecomplete: Bury the Chains
characters: Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce
genres: Politics, Social Justice, Biography, Africa, World History, 18th Century, Race, British Literature, Nonfiction, History
ratings_count: 2109
places: British Empire, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Islands, United Kingdom
awards: awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: California Book Award
category: Nonfiction (Gold), awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Lionel Gelber Prize, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
category: History, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Dayton Literary Peace Prize
category: Nonfiction, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Nonfiction
publisher: Macmillan