Bury the Chains

Adam Hochschild is an American author and co-founder of the progressive American magazine Mother Jones.[8][9] Much of his writing focuses on historical social injustices and the individuals who campaigned to end them.[9][10] Hochschild said of the overarching theme in his work: "To me there's nothing more interesting than trying to evoke moments when men and women risked their lives to battle horrendous injustice [...] It's hard for me to imagine spending four or five years working on a book if there isn't some pressing moral issue at the core of the story."[11] A popular historian,[12] Hochschild has stated that his intention is not to provide new analyses of historical events with his books, but rather "to bring a period of time alive by focusing on 10 or 12 people who lived through it, and whose lives intersected in some way."[11] Hochschild's other books include the acclaimed King Leopold's Ghost, an account of the colonial atrocities committed in the Belgian Congo;[2][13] The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin, an account of the effects of Joseph Stalin's dictatorship on contemporary Russians;[14] and Spain in Our Hearts, an account of the American volunteers who participated in the Spanish Civil War.[12]

John Newton, a slave trader turned abolitionist, was the original inspiration for Bury the Chains

Bury the Chains came about from Hochschild's initial idea to write a biography on John Newton, known for writing the hymn "Amazing Grace". Newton's personal transformation from a slave trader to an abolitionist had long intrigued him. However, a few months into researching Newton's life, Hochschild came to the realization that "the story was the movement and not Newton."[9] His research into Newton's life also introduced Hochschild to abolitionist campaigner Thomas Clarkson, who became the central figure in Bury the Chains. Hochschild observed that Clarkson's contributions to the abolitionist campaign was often overlooked in favor of William Wilberforce's. According to him, Clarkson was "by far the more interesting figure" who "really got shortchanged by history," and Hochschild wanted to correct this.[9] Hochschild was also drawn to write about the British antislavery movement upon learning that many of the methods used by modern-day advocacy groups were pioneered by the British abolitionists, including boycotts, political book tours, direct mail fundraising, newsletters, petitions, campaign posters and buttons, and the concept of setting up national organizations with local branches around the country.[9][15]

Having known little about the subject when he started working on this book, it took Hochschild four years of research and writing to complete it.[note 1] He conducted a lot of his research for the book in libraries, particularly the University of California, Berkeley Libraries and the Stanford University Libraries.[17] Hochschild's research also took him to England and western Jamaica to visit places where events in the book occurred. In England, he visited 2 George Yard in London, the address of the bookstore where the abolitionists held their meetings, now the location of a modern skyscraper.[17] In Jamaica, Hochschild visited the area where the slave rebellions took place so as to search for the remains of old sugar plantations.[9]

Thomas Clarkson, a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire, is the book's central figure

Bury the Chains is a narrative history of the antislavery movement in the United Kingdom.[4] It follows a group of British abolitionist activists and chronicles their successful campaign to end slavery in the British Empire.[18][19] The group includes Granville Sharp, an unconventional civil libertarian; Thomas Clarkson, a University of Cambridge graduate who dedicated his life to the antislavery campaign; John Newton, a former slave ship captain turned Evangelical preacher; William Wilberforce, an English politician and close friend of British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger; and Olaudah Equiano, a former slave who bought his freedom and became an abolitionist writer.[18][20]

The book starts out with an overview of slavery and the slave trade in 18th-century Britain. Hochschild then details the start of the antislavery campaign in England, from Granville Sharp's advocacy of African slave James Somerset in Somerset v Stewart in 1772 to the establishment of Granville Town, Province of Freedom in 1787.[4] After that, English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson serves as the book's central figure.[4][19] Hochschild recounts how as a student at the University of Cambridge, Clarkson became so appalled by the slave trade while researching the topic for his prize-winning antislavery essay that he dedicated the rest of his life to the antislavery movement.[19][21] Clarkson later found allies for his cause in the Quakers, one of whom, bookstore and printing shop owner James Phillips, agreed to publish his antislavery essay. The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was thus formed in May 1787 with both Clarkson and Sharp as founding members, holding meetings in Phillips's bookstore.[21]

Hochschild covers "the bleak decade" from 1792 to 1802, when the needs of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Haitian Revolution initially set the antislavery campaign back.[4] Even then, the campaign continued to gain ground thanks to an effective boycott of slave-produced sugar, and the advocacy of men such as army officer George Pinckard and painter William Blake.[18] Hochschild acknowledges the crucial role of women's societies and women activists such as Elizabeth Heyrick. These societies circulated antislavery publications and petitions, raised funds for the campaign, spoke out against slavery at public meetings, and led the sugar boycott, refusing to patronize bakers and shopkeepers who used and sold slave-produced sugar.[22]

Hochschild explains how the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 came about not just through activism alone, but also as a result of national rhetoric and economic warfare against France who had renewed slavery under Napoleon.[23] Hochschild explains that the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which banned slavery in Britain and its colonies, only became possible thanks to the Reform Act 1832 which saw many long-held seats in the House of Commons replaced. Hochschild notes that the Abolition Act upset many abolitionists as it provided compensation for slave-owners.[18] The Abolition Act took legal effect on August 1, 1838, granting full emancipation for all British slaves.[8]

• Official Houghton Mifflin Harcourt page
• Official Pan Macmillan page