How to read a history book
"You need to take on board something very important about history books: when using them for research, you should never, ever read them from cover to cover. The vast majority of ‘specialist’ history books were never intended to be read in this way. Instead you should, using your evolving LoEs, use a variety of books to find specific, additional information that may prove priceless in your analysis. You might do this by using the contents page at the start of the book, but you will find, with proper, academic books, that the index is a ‘treasure map’, allowing you to access specific areas without having to wade your way through hundreds of pages." Librarian's note: Make sure that when you make notes, you always record the book and the page(s) you used both so you can return to it again, and for referencing purposes. There are lots of suggested texts here - and no expectation that you read them all. Use the ones that seem most relevant to your LoE.
Accessing books
The page below gives an electronic version of your reading list, which includes:
Citing and referencing
Although all the information is here to use in creating your own citations and bibliography, these references are not in the required format for your coursework and you will need to restructure them. There is more information about this in the Using sources in your work tab. Please ask your teacher if you are unsure.
Black, Jeremy (2011). A Brief History of Slavery. London: Robinson. (1 copy)
Brendon, Piers (2008).The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997. London: Vintage. (2 copies)
Download scan of Chapter 1: 'The world turned upside down': The American revolution and the slave trade
Mr Roberts says "Excellent analytical overview up to 1807"
Ferguson, Niall (2003). Empire : How Britain Made the Modern World. London: Penguin. (2 copies)
Download scan of Chapter 3: The mission
Mr Roberts says "Useful background overview for key themes"
Gott, Richard (2011). Britain's Empire : Resistance, Repression and Revolt. London: Verso. (1 copy)
Jordan, Michael (2010). The Great Abolition Sham: The True Story of the End of the British Slave Trade. Stroud: History Press. (2 copies)
Download scan of Chapter 12: A questionable kind of liberty
Mr Roberts says "Useful emphasis/ analysis of the final stage of the battle for abolition. +/- sig. of the Great Reform Act."
Reddie, Richard (2007). Abolition! : The Struggle to Abolish Slavery in the British Colonies. Oxford: Lion Hudson. (2 copies)
Scanlan, Padraic X. (2020) Slave Empire : How Slavery Built Modern Britain. London: Robinson. (2 copies)
Download a scan of Chapter 3 : Haiti, America and the Rise of Antislavery
Schama, Simon (2001). A History of Britain : The British Wars 1603-1776. London: BBC. (1 copy)
Schama, Simon (2002). A History of Britain : The Fate of Empire - 1776-2000. London: BBC. (1 copy)
Schama, Simon (2005). Rough Crossings : Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution. BBC Worldwide Ltd. (1 copy)
Walvin, James (2019). Freedom : The Overthrow of the Slave Empires. London: Robinson. (2 copies)
Walvin, James (2019). How Sugar Corrupted the World : From Slavery to Obesity. London: Robinson. (2 copies)
Walvin, James (2001). Black Ivory : Slavery in the British Empire. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. (2 copies)
Download a scan of Chapter 18: Ending it all. The crusade against slavery.
Mr Roberts says "Excellent analysis of the causes of abolition and the context for it".
Walvin, James (2007). A Short History of Slavery. London: Penguin. (1 copy)
Geggus, David Patrick (2014). The Haitian Revolution : a documentary history. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company Inc. (1 copy)
Marshall, P. J. (2001). The Oxford History of the British Empire (Volume 2): The Eighteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (2 copies)
Download scan of Chapter 19: The British West Indies in the age of abolition, 1748-1815
Mr Roberts says "Includes a direct commentary/ critique of Eric Williams and very compelling points"
Porter, Andrew (2001). The Oxford History of the British Empire (Volume 3): Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Download scan of Chapter 21: The British West Indies
Mr Roberts says "Excellent on the final struggle for abolition"
Drescher, Seymour (2010). Econocide: British Slavery in the Era of Abolition. 2nd ed. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Download scan of Chapter 3: The protected economy before the French slave revolution
Mr Roberts says "Direct unpicking of Williams interpretation"
Key text
Martin, Steve (1999). Britain and the Slave Trade. London: Channel 4 Books.
Download a scan of Chapter 5: Abolition
Thomas, Hugh (2006). The Slave Trade: The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870. London: Phoenix.
Tomkins, Stephen (2010). The Clapham Sect: How Wilberforce's circle transformed Britain. Oxford: Lion.
Walvin, James (2011). The Zong: A massacre, the law and the end of slavery. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Download scan of Chapter 7: In the eyes of the law
Mr Roberts says "Importance of the Somerset case"
Walvin, James (1998). The Quakers: Money and Morals. London: John Murray.
Walvin, James (Ed.) (1982). Slavery and British Society 1776-1846. London: Macmillan.
Download scan of Chapter 2: The propaganda of anti-slavery
Mr Roberts says "The introduction is also worth reading" (but couldn't scan under CLA license)
Williams, Eric (1994). Capitalism & Slavery. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Key text for interpretation
Wise, Steven M. (2006) Though the heavens may fall : the landmark trial that led to the end of human slavery. New York. Da Capo Press.
Coupland, Reginald (1923) Wilberforce : a narrative. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1 print copy)
You can access a digital copy of this book from Cornell University Library here.
Lean, Garth (2007). God's Politician: William Wilberforce's Struggle. London: Darton, Longman & Todd. (1 copy)
Hague, William (2008). William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner. London: Harper Perennial. (4 copies)
Download scan of Chapter 13: Abolition
Ehrman, J. (1969). The Younger Pitt. London: Constable. (1 copy)
Ehrman, J. (1983). The Younger Pitt Volume 2: The Reluctant Transition. London: Constable.(1 copy)
Hague, William (2004). William Pitt the Younger. Harper Perennial, 2004. (1 copy)
Palmer, Colin A (2008) Eric Williams and the making of the Modern Caribbean. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press. (1 copy)
Poser, Norman S. (2015) Lord Mansfield : Justice in the age of reason. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. (1 Copy)
Download scan of Chapter 17 Slavery and the Somerset Case
Equiano, Olaudah (2003). The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. London: Penguin. (2 copies)
Heyrick, Elizabeth. (1825). No British slavery: or, An invitation to the people to put a speedy end to it. [Pamphlets]. printed by W. H. Blackburn,. https://jstor.org/stable/60227738
Lyall, Andrew (2019). Granville Sharp's Cases on Slavery. Oxford: Hart Publishing. (Library copy reference only. Please ask if you want to use it in the Library. 3 day quarantine between users.)
Download scan of Introduction (which is more substantial than it sounds - 87 pages!)
Appeal to the hearts and consciences of British women. (1828). [Pamphlets]. printed and sold by A. Cockshaw; sold also by Hatchard & Son, London, and Hudson, Birmingham,. https://jstor.org/stable/60227896
Pinfold, John (2007). The Slave Trade Debate: Contemporary Writings for and Against. Oxford: Bodleian Library. (1 copy)
Daunton, M. J. (1995). Progress and Poverty : An Economic and Social History of Britain 1700-1850. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1 copy)
Download scan of Chapter 20: Mercantilism and free trade
Mr Roberts says "Detailed insights into the move from mercantilism to free trade and how it didn't really become a reality until the 1830s and 1840s (later than Eric Willimas suggests)."
Hilton, Boyd (2006). A Mad, Bad and Dangerous People?: England 1783-1846.The New Oxford History of England. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1 copy)
Download a scan of p.184-194
Mr Roberts says "Interesting points re Abolition in political context and national identity"
Smith, Simon (1998). British Imperialism 1750-1970. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (2 copies)
Download a scan of Chapter 4: Humanitarianism, anti-slavery and missionary activity
Mr Roberts says "Excellent overview analysis. Refs to Williams controversy"
Tomkins, Stephen (2007). William Wilberforce : A Biography. Oxford: Lion. (4 copies)
Download scan of Chapter 15: Abolition
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