Sins of the Fathers: History of the Atlantic Slave Trade

by James Pope-Hennessy

Based on journals and letters of slave traders, merchant seamen, and slaves, themselves, this is a passionate account of the Atlantic slave trade, from its origins in the fifteenth century to it's gradual dissolution in the early 1800s.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

James Pope-Hennessy CVO was an Anglo-Irish biographer and travel writer.

Largely owing to his mother's influence, he decided to become a writer and left Oxford in 1937 without taking a degree. He went to work for the Catholic publishers Sheed & Ward as an editorial assistant. While working at the company's offices, in Paternoster Row in London, he worked on his first book, London Fabric (1939), for which he was awarded the Hawthornden Prize. During this period, he was involved in a circle of notable literary figures including Harold Nicolson, Raymond Mortimer and James Lees-Milne.

Reviews

[Lauren]

This deeply-researched book is a good resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the Atlantic slave trade and its stakeholders. It is based on correspondence and journals of slave traders and slaves. It’s pretty dry at times, but I learned a lot from this book and respect the ways in which the author let the primary sources speak for themselves.

[Fredrick Danysh]

Published in 1967, Sins of the Fathers examines slavery from the European perspective and uses predominately European sources. The author addresses the Triangular Trade. The work covers the period from 1441-1807 and relies heavily on the experiences of slave traders.

[Laura]

This book is a keeper. In fact I ordered a used copy to lend to my grandchildren to read when they encounter the controversial race theory at school

The Davis books on Western slave history give the facts about the long European and American history of slavery. This book gives poignant true life stories about traders, both European and African, the poor people captured to be slaves, and heartfelt biographies of the British Abolitionists,Clarkson and Wilberforce.
The descriptions of the Elmina castle and other factories that held people waiting to be sold and shipped depict the horrors of this business.

This is a must read for anyone who thinks like Charlestonians, that Africans were better off on a plantation than in their own village. There are descriptions of all the Europeans involved : the Portuguese, French, Spanish and of course, the British.

This book should be read in high school. It is sad to think I’ve just found it at age 70!

[Joe Lehman]

Detailed book on those who perpetuated the slave trade from the beginning until it’s in end. It’s not necessarily a tough read but it is a very dry but detailed book written almost as a research paper. This book includes the how and why African slave traders themselves participated in the trade of their own people which helped me gain an interesting new perspective.

[Jake Watmore]

This was an excellent read. Hennessy is a great writer who dives deep into his subject matter, getting many resources and collecting them into a profound, upsetting, but ultimately fascinating look at one of the darkest times in human history.

[Doris Raines]

THEY ARE FREE AT LAST. ♥️😎🍿🙏🏼👊🏽👌🇱🇷

[Bridget Wijnberg]

Ouff - a good overview of the slave trade with a lot of effort put into sourcing first hand accounts both black and white. But parts of this felt really laborious - perhaps illustrative of how, even written in the 60s, the language can date.

[Nancy Motto]

I can't honestly say I finished this book. I found that I felt like it wasn't really telling me anything I hadn't already learned from reading books like The Book of Night Women by Marlon James and watching movies like Amazing Grace. It did reawaken my disgust at the logic and justifications used by those in the slave trade for the horror and brutality they perpetrated on the slaves. I did try to read some of each chapter and if I was going to rate it, I would give it three stars.

[Rufus]

Read this a long time ago. What I remember is its prose. It's dramatic and well-written. Goes into details describing the horrors suffered by the slaves in the plantations.

[Royce Ratterman]

Overall, a good book for the researcher and enthusiast.
Read for personal research
- found this book's contents helpful and inspiring - number rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.