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Anthony Tibbles, Liverpool and the Slave Trade, Liverpool University Press, 2018, £14.95 (118pp, pbk) I should not be surprised that Tony could produce such a superb book. I first met him what feels like a century ago, when he was in charge of developing the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery in Liverpool in the early 1990s. I was one of the many people asked to discuss this first-ever exhibition. He listened to us all, whether we were academics, independent researchers, or Liverpool people much interested. Could not have been easy…. While ‘abolition’ is always celebrated, the actual trade in the enslaved is so often hidden; I think the UK does not want to recognise just what a fortune it made from the trade and the use of slaves on British-owned plantations. Should we accept Eric Williams (later prime Minister of Trinidad) suggestion in 1944 that the industrial revolution was at least partly financed from these profits? The book has six chapters: ‘The great pillar and support’: the transatlantic slave trade; ‘the metropolis of slavery’: the operation of the trade ‘Spinning out the Cargoe’: the voyage ‘Their indiscriminate rage for commerce’: Liverpool’s success and dominance of the trade ‘Shame on mankind’: the abolition movement ‘A flagrant dishonour to the British name’: after abolition To me it is very very important that in each chapter Tony sets Liverpool in the national and international context. He provides biographies of some of the most important people involved, and illustrates all aspects with many many paintings of ships, ports, plantations, Liverpool, portraits, and much else. It is not a ‘happy’ history, but Tibbles hides nothing as far as I can see. Certainly not Liverpool’s involvement in the ‘nefarious’ trade after abolition in 1807, or the fortunes made by some of the traders. And he does note that not all academic historians today agree with Eric Williams’ suggestion. I do. There is an excellent Bibliography. I think this would be an excellent book for use in schools and for undergraduates. And for ‘ordinary’ people interested in this history. So please read/use! Marika Sherwood ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the BASA list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=BASA&A=1