How antislavery outrage finally found a voice

As Adam Hochschild reveals in his extraordinary book, "Bury the Chains," moral outrage can move mountains. The original 12 took their crusade across Britain, forming local cells of individuals willing to devote their lives to the cause. But, as they perfected the techniques of activism, so, too, the slave trading establishment perfected sophisticated techniques of dissimulation. Huge sums were paid to pro-slavery lobbyists and PR agents, who spread the word that slaves should be called "assistant planters."

Given the vast profits involved, Parliament was reluctant to act. The British government feared that abolition would bequeath a valuable market to the French, who would be only too willing to step into the breach. But over the course of a half-century, the abolitionists managed to chip away at the slave-trading edifice and to overcome parliamentary inertia.

Hochschild's book is a blend of bitter and sweet. Gut-wrenching descriptions of the cruelty inflicted upon slaves are juxtaposed with deeply inspiring tales of men and women determined to end the suffering. Hypocrisy intertwines with virtue; goodness with venality.

A book of this sort could so easily stick in the gullet. Endless descriptions of suffering can induce compassion fatigue. Likewise, heroes need to be finely drawn to avoid saccharin-sweet sentimentality. But the strength of this book lies in the author's careful touch. Amid all the horror, there's genuine humor. His heroes all have foibles; some have feet of clay. But together they somehow succeeded in changing the mind of a nation.

The campaign to end the slave trade had repercussions far beyond the West Indian sugar plantations. Activists learned much about themselves and their community. As Hochschild demonstrates, women who involved themselves in the campaign began to examine their own state of servitude. Likewise, the difficulty of getting Parliament to act on this issue fueled the Great Reform Act of 1832, which extended democracy even further.

One quickly runs out of superlatives when praising this book. In addition to being a very accessible history of the slave trade and the movement that brought it to an end, it is also an illuminating story about the triumph of popular will, which has resonance today.

Hochschild is yet another example of a peculiar phenomenon in the nonfiction market: Some of the best histories published today are written by those who do not call themselves professional historians. It would be a fine thing indeed if all historians had his ability to communicate.

E.H. Hobsbawm once wrote that the great irony of the sugar trade was that such bitterness should have been produced from the manufacture of something so sweet. While that aphorism is undoubtedly accurate, it is nonetheless reassuring to see in "Bury the Chains" that bitterness in turn inspired a movement so sublimely sweet.

• Gerard J. DeGroot is a professor of modern history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

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