White Fury

A Jamaican Slaveholder and the Age of Revolution

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Caribbean & West Indies, British
Cover of the book White Fury by Christer Petley, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Christer Petley ISBN: 9780192509369
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: October 4, 2018
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: Christer Petley
ISBN: 9780192509369
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: October 4, 2018
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

The sugar planter Simon Taylor, who claimed ownership of over 2,248 enslaved people in Jamaica at the point of his death in 1813, was one of the wealthiest slaveholders ever to have lived in the British empire. Slavery was central to the eighteenth-century empire. Between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries, hundreds of thousands of enslaved people were brought from Africa to the Caribbean to toil and die within the brutal slave regime of the region, most of them destined for a life of labour on large sugar plantations. Their forced labour provided the basis for the immense fortunes of plantation owners like Taylor; it also produced wealth that poured into Britain. However, a tumultuous period that saw the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions, as well as the rise of the abolitionist movement, witnessed new attacks on slavery and challenged the power of a once-confident slaveholder elite. In White Fury, Christer Petley uses Taylor's rich and expressive letters to allow us an intimate glimpse into the aspirations and frustrations of a wealthy and powerful British slaveholder during the Age of Revolution. The letters provide a fascinating insight into the merciless machinery and unpredictable hazards of the Jamaican plantation world; into the ambitions of planters who used the great wealth they extracted from Jamaica to join the ranks of the British elite; and into the impact of wars, revolutions, and fierce political struggles that led, eventually, to the reform of the exploitative slave system that Taylor had helped build . . . and which he defended right up until the last weak scratches of his pen.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The sugar planter Simon Taylor, who claimed ownership of over 2,248 enslaved people in Jamaica at the point of his death in 1813, was one of the wealthiest slaveholders ever to have lived in the British empire. Slavery was central to the eighteenth-century empire. Between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries, hundreds of thousands of enslaved people were brought from Africa to the Caribbean to toil and die within the brutal slave regime of the region, most of them destined for a life of labour on large sugar plantations. Their forced labour provided the basis for the immense fortunes of plantation owners like Taylor; it also produced wealth that poured into Britain. However, a tumultuous period that saw the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions, as well as the rise of the abolitionist movement, witnessed new attacks on slavery and challenged the power of a once-confident slaveholder elite. In White Fury, Christer Petley uses Taylor's rich and expressive letters to allow us an intimate glimpse into the aspirations and frustrations of a wealthy and powerful British slaveholder during the Age of Revolution. The letters provide a fascinating insight into the merciless machinery and unpredictable hazards of the Jamaican plantation world; into the ambitions of planters who used the great wealth they extracted from Jamaica to join the ranks of the British elite; and into the impact of wars, revolutions, and fierce political struggles that led, eventually, to the reform of the exploitative slave system that Taylor had helped build . . . and which he defended right up until the last weak scratches of his pen.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book Pindar and the Cult of Heroes by Christer Petley
Cover of the book Tarr by Christer Petley
Cover of the book Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy by Christer Petley
Cover of the book Dhammapada by Christer Petley
Cover of the book Military Entrepreneurs and the Spanish Contractor State in the Eighteenth Century by Christer Petley
Cover of the book On Murder by Christer Petley
Cover of the book From Quantum Cohomology to Integrable Systems by Christer Petley
Cover of the book Fall of the Sultanate by Christer Petley
Cover of the book Reconstructing the Body by Christer Petley
Cover of the book A Dictionary of Business Research Methods by Christer Petley
Cover of the book The Mirror of the World: Subjects, Consciousness, and Self-Consciousness by Christer Petley
Cover of the book International Law and Religion by Christer Petley
Cover of the book A Dictionary of the Bible by Christer Petley
Cover of the book The Future of the Professions by Christer Petley
Cover of the book The Oxford Shakespeare: The History of King Lear : The 1608 Quarto by Christer Petley
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy