The Atlantic Slave Trade

“This book would make an excellent text for a course on the Atlantic slave trade and will be quite useful as supplementary reading for any course that has a significant component of African or African-American history during the height of the trade. It will also serve well the scholarly public desiring the latest accessible information on this important but controversial topic.” – Richard Steckel, Journal of Economic Literature

“[This book] provides a convenient account of the complex history and extensive historiography of one of the most important and pervasive human activities of the past 500 years. In this short but important book, Herbert Klein sets out to examine the nature and importance of the trade and the reasons for its dissolution.” – The Historian

“This is the best introduction to the Atlantic slave trade currently available. Crisply written, it combines a masterful survey of the latest scholarship with carefully balanced geographical coverage. . . . Klein has set a standard that will be hard to beat.” – David Northrup, Canadian Journal of African Studies

“The Atlantic Slave Trade is a brilliant work of synthesis. . . . this is a hugely impressive book that will be essential reading for all students of slavery and the Atlantic slave trade.” – J. R. Oldfield, The English Historical Review

“This timely book synthesizes the wealth of new information that has emerged in recent decades on the Atlantic slave trade . . . . This book would make an excellent text for a course on the Atlantic slave trade and will be quite useful as supplementary reading for any course that has a significant component of African or African-American history during the height of the trade. It will also serve well the scholarly public desiring the latest accessible information on this important but controversial topic.” – Richard H. Steckel, Journal of Economic Literature

“The book is a masterpiece of economic history, and as long as Klein is presenting economic arguments, he is unmatched. The chapters on the business organization of the slave trade, especially its European end, the disposition of slaves in the Americas, and the Middle Passage are finely tuned, clearly written, and deploy the latest scholarship. Indeed, in making generalizations, Klein goes beyond what can be learned simply by consulting the latest scholarship. The international dimension of the trade, the multiplicity of nationalities involved, and its huge intercontinental scope are easily grasped by an approach in which Klein is as comfortable with the operations of the Dutch and Danish shippers as he is with the English. Indeed, one of Klein's strong suits is that he does not simply generalize from the English trade, but is sensitive to the nuances of the trade from all shippers and consumers.” – John Thornton, The International History Review

"...updated and greatly expanded quantitative data set on the involvement of Portuguese and Spanish ships in the Atlantic trade strengthens his already compelling arguments about the importance of the South Atlantic to this enterprise." -Sandra E. Greene, African Studies Review