Alcohol in the Black Atlantic

by Jose Curto, David V. Trotman

Simply put, Alcohol in the Black Atlantic is a cultural history of alcohol as a commodity among slaveholders, slave traders, and enslaved populations in colonial Africa, Latin America, and the United States. In 1997, Peter Mancall published Deadly Indians and Alcohol in Early America. The book "forever shattered the stereotype of the drunken Indian, and offered a powerful indictment of English participation in the liquor trade." Up to now, no one has examined the effects of alcohol on the black Atlantic in Africa, Latin America, and the U.S. in a single volume. In timeframe and scope, this is an ambitious edited collection. From the seventeenth to twentieth century, its coverage ranges from Ghana and Angola to Rio de Janeiro and Jamaica; from the French West Indies to the U.S. South. The book examines the uses and abuses of alcohol as a commodity and currency in enslaved and colonized populations.

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2010