The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World

Greg Grandin signs here a masterwork, both very well written and extremely well documented, about the structure, effects and history of slavery in the Americas, concentrating on Latin America more than the US.The author starts from the historic slaves rebellion on the slaver ship Tryal described by Hermann Melville in his "Benito Cerreno" and from there pulls all the threads he can.He artfully retraces the path of the slaves involved from their shipment from Africa, through their capture by the French pirate "Citoyen" Mordeille and their sale in South America, their journey through the continent and across the Andes until their rebellion on the Tryal on their way to Lima.Greg Grandin masterly describes Connecticut's Amasa Delano's journey as a sealer, massacring the hapless mammals by the thousands in south pacific islands until his arraignment of the Tryal (I will not spoil the details here).All this bathed in exquisitely depicted cultures, with the philosophical effects of slavery on the various ones he describes - be them in South America, Spain, England, the thirteen colonies or later the United States. He explores for us the influence of the French and Haitian revolutions, the demise of the Spanish control, even to the influence of Islam on some of the salves sent to the Americas or through 770 years of Arabic presence in Spain.This book is a page turner, both a collection of great stories intertwined in a magnificent fresco and a well of culture and philosophy, all written in a very clear and compelling style.Very important to me, Greg Grandin supports all his narrative with extensive notes on his researches in archives on four continents (both Americas, Europe and Africa). This denotes the most serious of analysis - that it remains so pleasant to read testifies to the author's skills.A note about the Kindle edition, which is the one I read.It is hard to jump back and forth between the text and the notes, and I essentially did not because of that fact. The original book also contains interesting illustrations which appear in the Kindle edition, but I have no way to know where they are located in the paper form of the book - in the Kindle edition they are all collated right after the main text - this is quite a pain as they would support the text very well were they be properly placed.All in all, even in the Kindle edition I rate this book a deserved 5 stars.

First, one should read Benito Cereno first, as this book traces the real life events behind Melville's story. The Empire of Necessity tells a story of slavery and a slave economy, primarily in Spanish America, that is much different than what one thinks of when one is considers American slavery. The author weaves together an international story from Africa to London to Massachusetts to South America, and even to Hawaii and China. Though such a grand scope, Grandin's story does not read like a broad history but more like an unfolding saga of individual lives. One cannot be but overwhelmed as to how slavery has been intertwined with so much of the world's activities during the Age of Enlightenment. One gets the sense that to escape from slavery in the 1700s and early 1800s would be as difficult as living a life today without leaving behind any digital fingerprints. The research behind this book is outstanding. It is one of the few books I've read where I spent as much time on the footnotes as I did on the narrative. My only complaint, and what kept me from giving it 5 stars, is the author's apparent obsession with Melville. While Melville's writings besides Benito Cereno are certainly relevant to the author's themes, at times I felt the author deviated from the topic and was too focused on analyzing Melville. Still, a very worthwhile read.

This is a really good book, unputdownable. The basic idea of building up a history of slavery in the first half of the nineteenth century around the theme of Melville's novella "Benito Cereno" is a good one and the book is a mine of fascinating, surprising and, of course, often very disturbing facts. The author does, at times, seem to theorize a bit pretentiously but such moments are mercifully brief. One gap, which possibly leaves the story incomplete, is the omission of the anti-slavery movement; for example, there is a footnote telling us without elaboration that, with the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, the British Navy became a threat to the slave trade. North America, too, had a strong abolitionist movement, which hardly gets mentioned: considering how freely (and entertainingly and instructively) the author rambles from his narrative theme, he might have done so a bit more widely and thus completed our picture of slavery in his period. But it seems churlish to cavil: this is a book I'm truly glad to have read.

As we start to talk seriously about slavery, I have noticed that the scholarship has gotten better. Grandin does an excellent job of connecting the dots in a period where few dots are suppose to connect. He weaves the lives of West African slaves and their slave journey that ebbs and flows until finally they collide with an American in the Pacific. His life and voyage is also given depth and credibility, so much so that it is part of an American novel, written by Herman Melville. We are confronted with real people caught in events that mirrors the real world and each is (knowingly and unknowingly) contributing to the other. The saga is a unique look into the slave economy that is spinning all around them. Each is struggling in different ways with what it means, what are the rules, the consequences and the impact of this under the radar institution on their lives and destinies. The deception is the glue that holds it all together. Fascinating! Much more needs to be said and done to get this massive, worldwide, continually unfolding deception exposed.Author of  Through the Lens of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Good

Fantastik

Kindle版紙の本の長さ： 378 ページ出版社: Metropolitan Books; First版 (2014/1/14)ASIN: B00EGJ7KX6　のレビュー。　ハーマン・メルヴィルの中編小説、あるいは長い短編『ベニート・セレーノ』（岩波文庫では『幽霊船』、光文社古典新訳文庫では『漂流船』）の元になった事件を扱ったもの。メルヴィルの翻訳では『バートルビー』といっしょに書籍になっている場合が多く、そっちが有名なようだが、わたしはこの作品が一番衝撃的だった。『モビー・ディック』も翻訳でよんでいるけれど、衝撃を感じる以前に疲れてしまいますね。　チリ沖で、ニューイングランド（独立直後のアメリカ合衆国ですよ）の船長アマサ・デラーノが、漂流状態の船と遭遇する。水や食料を準備して船に乗り込んでみると、憔悴した船長ベニート・セラーノが忠実な黒人奴隷に介護されている。アマサ・デラーノは、セラーノから嵐や疫病でオフィサーがみな死亡したことや、船の現状を聞く。その間にも忠実な奴隷たちは、かいがいしくセレーノの世話をしている。船上で半日すごし、自分の船に帰ろうとしたとき、セラーノは甲板から飛び降りアマサのボートに飛び乗る。実は、黒人たちは船を乗っ取り、船長のセラーノを脅迫していたのだ。　メルヴィルの小説では、黒人の首謀者のほうがここで死ぬのだが、現実の事件では、その後反乱奴隷たちが捉えられる。本書は現実のアメリカ人アマサ、スペイン人セラーノ、黒人奴隷たち、三者の来歴と事件後の消息を丹念に調査した歴史叙述である。　アマゾンのサンプルで読める部分では、「自由意志とはなんぞや」とか「奴隷の人間性とは」とか、メルヴィル作品への批評が多いように見える。しかし本書全体では、上記三者の生い立ち、当時の国際関係（つまり、どこの国がどこの国へ奴隷を輸出してよいか。海上で捕獲した奴隷は誰の所有になるかなどなど）、宗教（つまり、北アメリカのクェーカー教徒、スペインのカトリック、アフリカのムスリム）、アルゼンチンの皮革産業、アザラシ猟、税関や裁判権のこと、などさまざまな事柄が解説される。そして背景のことなる三者が会合したのが、チリ沖の小島なのである。　そういうわけで、本書に注目するのはメルヴィル作品に興味がある人が多いだろうけれど、交易史や社会経済史に興味がある方におすすめです。シドニー・ミンツやケネス・ポメランツの著作に親しんでいる方、日本では川北稔などの本を読んでいる方なら、おおーと驚く内容を楽しめるでしょう。自由と平等とは、自由に奴隷狩りをして、平等に輸出入できる権利であったのです。　もっとも、いまでも、勤勉なプロテスタントが資本主義の土台を作ったなんてタワゴトを信じている人はこんな本読まないでしょうが。　メルヴィルに関しての部分、作家論と作品論も全体の２割ほどあります。この部分もわたしはおもしろかった。この短編、２０世紀の中頃までは、「邪悪なもの」「権限的な悪を描いたもの」といった抽象的な批評が大部分だったそうです。奴隷が反乱するのはあったりまえじゃねえか、知性ある者が抑圧に応酬するのは当然だ！　という評価が生まれたのはアメリカでの公民権運動の時代だったそうです。ちょうどコンラッドの『闇の奥』が分かったような分からないような批評が大部分で、舞台がベルギー領コンゴでアフリカ人を殺しまくっていた時代の小説として読まれ始めた時期といっしょだというわけだ。　kindle版、索引にリンクなし。写真はpaperwhiteでも支障なく見られる。やっぱり地図が見にくい。

Stories about slavery and sealing by New England citizens, showing a clash between their new-found liberty and behaviour/moral.Revealing but rather incoherently told through stories on different characters, difficult to remember (names !) and follow.I would not buy it again.