The Revolt that Ended Slavery in the British Empire with Tom Zoellner

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I am very happy to welcome Tom Zoellner to The Rogue Historian. Tom is the author of eight nonfiction books, including the forthcoming The National Road: Dispatches from a Changing Americaand works as a professor at Chapman University and Dartmouth College. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Harper’s, The American Scholar, The Oxford American, Time, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many other publications. He also serves at the politics editor of The Los Angeles Review of Books.

Today we’ll be sorting through his latest from Harvard University Press, Island on Fire: The Revolt that ended slavery in the British Empire. This is an absolutely fascinating story that I do not think gets nearly enough attention. I know after reading the book and speaking with Tom I’ll be thoroughly covering it in my own classroom. Here’s some of what we discussed:

  • Why this story has not received enough attention in the grand narrative of slavery and abolition in the Atlantic World

  • The historiography of slavery in the British Empire and…you guessed it…capitalism!!

  • Sam Sharpe’s revolution and leadership

  • Slavery, freedom, and Holy Scripture

  • A revolt against an institution - not against the people behind it

  • King William IV

  • The anti-slavery movement in England

  • Reverberations and concerns in the United States

  • The commemorative landscape in the 21st century

  • Jamaica, slavery, and the tourist industry

I tend to focus on subject specific to United States history - so it was nice to shift gears a little and get into the Caribbean and the Atlantic World. Have a listen…

Tom has a lot going on so make sure to keep up to speed by following him on Twitter and checking out his website. Of course, you’ll want to pick up a copy of Island on Fire so we can keep the conversation going. AND…don’t forget to subscribe to The Rogue Historian Podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app so you never ever ever ever miss a show. That would be dumb.