Bury the Chains

From the author of King Leopold's Ghost, a narrative history of the social justice campaign formed in the fight to free the slaves of the British Empire.In early 1787, twelve men-a printer, a lawyer, a clergyman, and others united by their hatred of slavery-came together in a London printing shop and began the world's first grass-roots movement, battling for the rights of people on another continent. Masterfully stoking public opinion, the movement's leaders pioneered a variety of techniques that have been adopted by citizens' movements ever since, from consumer boycotts to wall posters and lapel buttons to celebrity endorsements. A deft chronicle of this groundbreaking antislavery crusade and its powerful enemies, Bury the Chains gives a little-celebrated human rights watershed its due.A San Francisco Chronicle BestsellerA Book Sense SelectionBy far the most readable and rounded account we have of British antislavery, a campaign that, as the author rightly claims, helped to change the world and can be seen as a prototype of the modern social justice movement. -Robin Blackburn, Los Angeles Times Book Review A thrilling, substantive, and oftentimes raw work of narrative history. In its own fashion, it furthers the abolitionists' crucial work of lifting our moral blindness. -Maureen Corrigan, National Public Radio's Fresh Air