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The Empire of Necessity
- Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World
- Narrated by: Luis Moreno
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
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Publisher's summary
From the acclaimed author of Fordlandia, the story of a remarkable slave rebellion that illuminates America' s struggle with slavery and freedom during the Age of Revolution and beyond
One morning in 1805, off a remote island in the South Pacific, Captain Amasa Delano, a New England seal hunter, climbed aboard a distressed Spanish ship carrying scores of West Africans he thought were slaves. They weren' t. Having earlier seized control of the vessel and slaughtered most of the crew, they were staging an elaborate ruse, acting as if they were humble servants. When Delano, an idealistic, anti-slavery republican, finally realized the deception, he responded with explosive violence. Drawing on research on four continents, The Empire of Necessity explores the multiple forces that culminated in this extraordinary event - an event that already inspired Herman Melville' s masterpiece Benito Cereno. Now historian Greg Grandin, with the gripping storytelling that was praised in Fordlandia, uses the dramatic happenings of that day to map a new transnational history of slavery in the Americas, capturing the clash of peoples, economies, and faiths that was the New World in the early 1800s.
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At the end of 1618, a blazing green star soared across the night sky over the northern hemisphere. From the Philippines to the Arctic, the comet became a sensation and a symbol, a warning of doom or a promise of salvation. Two years later, as the Pilgrims prepared to sail across the Atlantic on board the Mayflower, the atmosphere remained charged with fear and expectation. Men and women readied themselves for war, pestilence, or divine retribution. Against this background, and amid deep economic depression, the Pilgrims conceived their enterprise of exile.
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Excellent, detailed and eye-opening
- By David on 09-20-15
By: Nick Bunker
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The Island at the Center of the World
- The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In a landmark work of history, Russell Shorto presents astonishing information on the founding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of the Dutch in making America what it is today.
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Incomplete history, but fun. Performance is poor.
- By Matthew on 11-27-18
By: Russell Shorto
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The Republic of Pirates
- Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down
- By: Colin Woodard
- Narrated by: Lewis Grenville
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early 18th century, the Pirate Republic was home to some of the great pirate captains, including Blackbeard, "Black Sam" Bellamy, and Charles Vane. Along with their fellow pirates - former sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves - this "Flying Gang" established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, Blacks could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by a vote.
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Audible is better
- By CaptainRavick on 01-19-16
By: Colin Woodard
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A Commonwealth of Thieves
- The Improbable Birth of Australia
- By: Thomas Keneally
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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It was 1786 when Arthur Phillip, an ambitious captain in the Royal Navy, was assigned the formidable task of organizing an expedition to Australia in order to establish a penal colony. With the authority of a renowned historian and the narrative grace of a brilliant novelist, Thomas Keneally offers an insider's perspective into the dramatic saga of the birth of a vibrant society in an unfamiliar land.
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Interesting tidbits, but slow overall
- By Dan on 08-23-07
By: Thomas Keneally
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Empire of Blue Water
- Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe that Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign
- By: Stephan Talty
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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He challenged the greatest empire on earth with a ragtag bunch of renegades and brought it to its knees. This is the real story of the pirates of the Caribbean. Henry Morgan, a 20-year-old Welshman, crossed the Atlantic in 1655, hell-bent on making his fortune. Over the next three decades, his exploits in the Caribbean became legendary. His daring attacks on the mighty Spanish empire on land and at sea determined the fates of kings and queens, and his victories helped shape the destiny of the New World.
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Morbid Terrorists?
- By Jack on 11-11-08
By: Stephan Talty
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The Age of Gold
- The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill on the American River, it completely transformed the territory of California. Hundreds of thousands of people sped to California by any means possible, and small cities sprung up to service their needs as they sought the precious metal. By 1850, California had become a state; it had also become a symbol of where the nation was going.
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Very Enjoyable
- By Claire on 01-15-04
By: H.W. Brands
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The Last Voyage of Columbus
- Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Simon Jones
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Abridged
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The epic, never-before-told story of Columbus's final, and perhaps greatest, journey to the New World. The final voyage of Christopher Columbus was by far his most dangerous, unexpected, exhilarating, and consequential. It was, as Pulitzer Prize-winner Samuel Eliot Morison put it, "a story of adventure which imagination could hardly invent; a struggle between man and the elements, in which the most splendid manifestations of devotion, loyalty and courage are mingled with the vilest human passions."
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Brilliant!
- By David on 09-11-05
By: Martin Dugard
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Columbus
- The Four Voyages
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Tim Jerome
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of the Magellan biography, Over the Edge of the World, a mesmerizing new account of the great explorer. Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a trading route to China, and his unexpected landfall in the Americas, is a watershed event in world history.
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Very Petty and frankly flat out dishonest
- By Jm on 02-16-21
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Over the Edge of the World
- Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Laurence Bergreen
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
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In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities (cloves, pepper, and nutmeg) flourished. Three years later, a handful of survivors returned with an abundance of spices from their intended destination, but with just one ship carrying 18 emaciated men. During their remarkable voyage around the world the crew endured starvation, disease, mutiny, and torture. Many men died, including Magellan, who was violently killed in a fierce battle.
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The Reading IS an Issue
- By mcbeene on 12-26-05
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Sugar in the Blood
- A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire
- By: Andrea Stuart
- Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart's earliest known maternal ancestor, George Ashby, set sail from England to settle in Barbados. He fell into the life of a sugar plantation owner by mere chance, but by the time he harvested his first crop, a revolution was fully under way, binding together ambitious White entrepreneurs and enslaved Black workers in a strangling embrace....
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A sweet, historical gem
- By Adrian on 06-29-13
By: Andrea Stuart
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Vermeer's Hat
- The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World
- By: Timothy Brook
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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A Vermeer painting shows a military officer in a Dutch sitting room, talking to a laughing girl. In another canvas, fruit spills from a blue-and-white porcelain bowl. Familiar images that captivate us with their beauty--but as Timothy Brook shows us, these intimate pictures actually give us a remarkable view of an expanding world.
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A wonderful book
- By Acteon on 07-09-14
By: Timothy Brook
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We are familiar with maps that outline all 50 states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an "empire", exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories - the islands, atolls, and archipelagos - this country has governed and inhabited? In How to Hide an Empire, author Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light.
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How to beat a straw man to death
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The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
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Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
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What listeners say about The Empire of Necessity
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Richard Boling
- 01-25-14
Good book, terrible narrator
Would you listen to The Empire of Necessity again? Why?
No. In fact, since I so disliked the narrator, I couldn't even make it through part one. and , after several trials, gave up. Instead, I ordered the book from Amazon.
What did you like best about this story?
I've long been a fan of Melville's "Benito Cerino," a novella based on this fascinating historical incident. The author recounts the incident in detail, then expands the scope to include a novel view of the slave trade and traces the ultimately intertwining narratives of the story's three main characters.
How could the performance have been better?
Mr. Moreno reads in phrases, not sentences. Though he has a good voice, his delivery is halting and uncertain, resulting in strange (and quickly annoying) word emphasis and phrasing. Frankly, I've listened to hundred of audio books, and he is clearly the worst I've heard.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes, though I couldn't truly devote all those hours given the book's length. In truth, I couldn't take more than 20 minutes of the narration at a time.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Sojourner
- 05-11-16
The history we didn't learn in school.
Amazing story should be a movie. The slave trade is laid bare. Should be required reading.
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- John
- 02-11-16
Brilliant
Grandin discusses many issues of the Spanish empire and Latin America stemming from the context of a single story. Informative, yet easy to listen to. I recommend listening at above the normal 1.0x speed.
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- BDHumbert
- 08-09-14
I did not think of that.
A fascinating history and analysis of what it was like to be alive in the late 1700s and early 1800s - how slavery was just one of the many ways we could be "owned" - indentured servitude, apprenticeship, or impressed into crewing a ship. How the emerging forces of freedom and liberty began to take root. I learned a lot - and learned a lot about Melville. Now have to go back and read Moby Dick - and read a couple other of his works for the first time.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lake
- 03-08-14
What is the "right thing to do"?
This is one of those books that help me to triangulate the position that I find myself increasingly taking in my clinical work with men.
The tale is, in it's own scholarly way, an account of the man in the gray flannel suit. If suggests that the consequence of the economic transformation of the world through "free trade," was made possible by men who imagined freedom in a particular way. The freedom to rule over others.
The book itself explores the particular problem of a merchant ship captain, one Amasa Delano from Duxbury, MA, who, in 1804, encountered a Spanish ship off the Chilean coast. While initially appearing to be a ship in distress that might be in need of Christian charity, it might also be a potential prize as salvage. In truth, it had been the site of a slave rebellion. The actual resolution of this maritime drama became quite famous, eventually the basis for Herman Mellville's novella, Benito Cereno.
In the post Columbian world of seemingly infinite possibility for the creation of new wealth, the politics of freedom were focused on the removal of "unfair" barriers to the exploitation of whole new continents of resources and peoples. Much of the book's argument about the legal rulings in this morality play pays attention to the historical context of European revolution and the moral confusion about an emerging social order organized by a declaration of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
It is in this way that the book amplifies the conversation about, or awareess of, a moral domain that floats under the surface of us all. Call it what you want, the central feature of it, from the perspective that more and more of us share, is that things aren't fair. In trying to determine "rights," it is instructive to consider "wrongs." In many years of seeing couples and families in distress, much of my work, particularly with determined men, is to help them consider the basic question of "what if the shoe were on the other foot?"
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- Alberto P.
- 10-16-18
There should be a movie about this
It is excellent, I had to read it for a class, but I loved it. The problem of listening a book for a gradschool class is that I needed to cite pages. But the book is marvelous, and the performance of the reader is enjoyable and engaging for the most part.
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- Alednam A Uonopk
- 07-08-20
So much to be taken in...
This book was a gold mine of information, ranging from it's wide array of topics that existed during the time of slavery. Highlights much of the South American slave trade as well. Worth listening to more than just once...
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