Regarding slavery, the standard narrative is that Europeans were the bad guys and Africans were the victims.
This book supplies ample evidence that Europeans, especially the British Navy, were instrumental in ending the slave trade, despite the efforts of Africans and others to keep it going.

Some memorable parts of the book:

"Contrary to popular belief, slavery in Africa was not initiated by the white man but was homegrown, often the consequence of intertribal warfare. Long before the arrival of foreigners on their shores, it was the habit of local chieftains to make slaves of prisoners taken in battle. Any surviving men, women and children on the losing side were enslaved as a matter of course and for as long as their conquerors wished. In the rare times when peace reigned between tribes, the shortfall was made up by enslaving those who committed crimes against the community."

The book quotes Sir James Yeo, who wrote in 1816, "Neither mountains, rivers nor deserts will prove barriers to the slave trade, as the black chiefs will bring their slaves from every extremity of Africa as long as there is a nation that will afford them a slave market."

Edwards concludes, "It had taken all of ninety years, but thanks to the persistence of the British Government and the valiant work of the Royal Navy, Africa had at last rid itself of the evil of slave trading."

He mentions that about 2000 British sailors died for the cause. Although this is a huge sacrifice, the 11+ million enslaved Africans dwarf that number. Still, what makes this book valuable is that it forces us to rethink the standard story that dead white European men were all bad and that all Africans were victims. The reality is more nuanced.

In the epilogue, he discusses Zimbabwe "typifying the end of the African dream."
Indeed, the country had it all. Europeans proved that by making it "one of Africa's success stories."
However, after Robert Mugabe took over, it went from being Africa's breadbasket to its basket case.

His somber conclusion is, "And as self-impoverished Africa slips back into the abyss of the dark ages, the slave trade has returned.... The trade involves most states in sub-Saharan Africa. The children are kidnapped or purchased for $20-70 each by slavers in poorer states, such as Benin and Togo, and sold into slavery in dex ens or as unpaid domestic servants for $350 each in weather olil-rich states, such as Nigeria and Gabon."

However, if the British Navy were to intervene in Africa today to stop such slave trade, some would call it neo-colonialism.

At the present time, when we are all so ready to berate ourselves for our country's involvement in the historic slave trade, I think it is important to recognise the other side - what was done to put right the wrongs that had been committed, and to put an end to the slave trade which continued despite the laws brought in that forbade it. It isn't something that I previously knew anything about and so it was an interesting thing to learn, as well as more information about where slaves were coming from, how they ended up in slavery, and who was making use of this appalling source of free labour.

The epilogue mentioning the modern slave trade in Africa seemed unnecessary to me - there was a lot more ground to cover there in terms of its history and the political situation, and if it was relevant to the rest of the book at all then it ought to have been explored in considerably more depth than what really amounts to an opinion-led footnote.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I am glad that I was able to read this book. It is extremely informative and not a lot of people (including me) know enough about this subject. I learned a lot while reading this book.

There has been much concentration on the history of slave-trading, and who was involved in it recently. However, Bernard Edwards concentrates on how the British Royal Navy actually fought the slave traders after slavery was outlawed. He writes that the Royal Navy committed many ships and over 40,000 men to hunting down slave-traders in Africa, and that they were the only ones with the will to end it. It was certainly a wearisome and long campaign, with very little help from any other country. This tale of the African Squadron is little-known, and deserves to be told. He is quite dogmatic about politics, which might make the book controversial these days.

Edwards doesn't deny any horrors of the slave trade, and indeed goes into them in detail. To his credit, he also delves into the horrendous modern slave-trade. This could make the book difficult to read for some.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781399013505
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I love accounts of ' the history between the history' and this book is no exception. How did the British work to send the slave trade once it became illegal? Maybe we think everyone just conformed - and stopped. No.
In fact, the lengths that the underresourced British squadrons had to go to were extreme. So many unnamed men died from disease and heat exhaustion not to mention being shot, enduring food shortages and military discipline.
It does get a bit repetitive at times but it's compelling and high time the men that did the work on the ground to physically stop slavers, were recognised.

This is a truly fun book but it goes into far more detail than is necessary. It is like a micro-history of the British Royal Navy's sustained assault on the Atlantic slave trade. I am not from the UK but every person in Great Britain should read this book so that their hearts can swell with pride. The Brits are often seen as colonizers but their role in halting slavery tells a very different story.

A very interesting look at slave trading in the 1800’s and the efforts to stop the trade by the British Navy. This is not a well known effort and the stories were very well told. It was an extremely informative book.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review – "Royal Navy Versus the Salve Traders" by Bernard Edwards 5-30-2021 reviewer - Shirley W

I found this topic very interesting and therefore presumed I would really enjoy the book; however, I just could not finish. I did read 34% of the book but found it a bit laborious with dates and names. Certainly, a work strictly of history and seemed professionally researched.