Online Class Exercise

"Up From Slavery" by Richard Brookhiser:

I really agree with Richard Brookhiser in his review. I too feel as tho Hochschild is taking unnecessary shots at Christianity throughout his book, often times making statements that could have easily been left out of the book (like when he criticizes Newton for remaining silent for so long after his "conversion"). I feel as tho Hochschild is looking at the past with an unfair "present-day bias". He is using thoughts and sentiments that are very prevalent today yet were not necessarily the case back in England during the 18th century. He is criticizing men for doing what almost every other person in the British Empire was doing at the time, supporting (to some varying degree) the slave trade. Just because these men happened to men of the cloth doesn't make them more or less responsible than anyone else during the time period. The shots that Hochschild takes are unnecessary and unwarranted.


"Freed" review of Bury the Chains in NY Times by By MARILYNNE ROBINSON :

I really agree with Marilynne Robinson in her review. I too also feel as Hochschild fails to prove that it was solely the efforts of the individuals he discusses that brought about the end of the slave trade in England. I agree with Robinson that one must look at the economic considerations that were in play. I really enjoyed the point made by Robinson regarding the timing of Britains decision. Because Britain knew for almost 20 years that the Americans were going to abolish the slave trade in 1808, it doesn't seem that surprising to me that they decided to abolish the trade themselves in 1807. I also like the point made about the French and Napoleon. With France looking towards the domestic cultivation of sugar, Britain would no longer have the huge carribean market to export its slaves too. I feels as if Hochschild overlooks these points too much in his book and focuses too narrowly on the few main individuals he decided to pick.