Preview
  • The Last Slave Ships

  • New York and the End of the Middle Passage
  • By: John Harris
  • Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
  • Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (20 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Last Slave Ships

By: John Harris
Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A stunning behind-the-curtain look into the last years of the illegal transatlantic slave trade in the United States.

Long after the transatlantic slave trade was officially outlawed by every major slave-trading nation in the early 19th century, merchants based in the United States were still sending hundreds of illegal slave ships from American ports to the African coast. The key instigators were slave traders who moved to New York City after the shuttering of the massive illegal slave trade to Brazil in 1850. These traffickers were determined to make lower Manhattan a key hub in the illegal slave trade to Cuba. In conjunction with allies in Africa and Cuba, they ensnared around 200,000 African men, women, and children during the 1850s and 1860s. John Harris explores how the US government went from ignoring, and even abetting, this illegal trade to helping to shut it down completely in 1867.

©2020 John Harris (P)2020 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Last Slave Ships

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

very interesting and useful.

God damn Manoel Cunha Reis, the arch villain of this book. The crimes of capitalism.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Must-read Dark Chapter of American History

In this detailed and well-told account, Dr Harris tells stories never heard before of the illicit slave trade being run out of New York, Baltimore and other US seaports. The reality of the slave trade as it went on unchecked is gruesome, far-reaching and startling in its magnitude. In this book, the smaller stories come together to create a much bigger picture for all of us of the massive extent of slaving operations.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Must-read on the end of the international slavery

A panoramic, highly informative, and lucid research. I truly enjoyed the book, and the narrator's voice, clear and without strong accent, added pleasantness to my experience. I can say nothing negative about the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great story but only part of it

This was some really interesting history that the general public is probably not aware of. Who knew New York, and not Baltimore (in a slave state but that never seceded) and not New Orleans (definitely in a slave state) was the capital of the slave trade from 1850 on to the end of the Civil War. But I wish there had been more on the African side: Who were the slave traders there? How did they capture people who were then enslaved? Was it one ethnic group versus another? All still to be known.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!