Publisher's Weekly Review
Gold and slaves from Africa were "the very fulcrum of modernity," according to this eye-opening if tendentious history. Columbia journalism professor French (A Continent for the Taking) argues that the rise of the West relied on West African gold exports, which stimulated Europe's economy, and the trade in African slaves who produced sugar on Caribbean islands and cotton in the antebellum American South. These two fabulously profitable commodities were central to the rise of British and American capitalism, French contends, and birthed regimented production processes that were a model for industrial labor regimes. Though French elucidates much neglected history here, especially on relations between early modern Europe and the sophisticated--and pro-slavery--polities of Africa, his claim that without slave labor Europe might have remained a "geographic and civilizational dead end" lagging eternally behind Asia and the Islamic world goes too far, and he doesn't fully explain why Western industries and societies kept flourishing even after slavery's demise. Elsewhere, French assigns near-magical properties to slave-grown sugar, suggesting that it was essential to the Industrial Revolution, newspapers, and the birth of the "modern public sphere." The result is an intriguing yet overwrought take on the global economy's dire origins. Photos. (Oct.)
Guardian Review
The way we think about history is entirely wrong, says Howard W French at the start of this magnificent, powerful and absorbing book. The problem is not just that the people and cultures of Africa have been ignored and left to one side; rather, that they have been so miscast that the story of the global past has become part of a profound "mistelling". That process starts, argues French, with the age of discovery. The impetus for what turned into the creation of multiple European empires stretching across continents did not come from the "yearning for ties with Asia", but from a "centuries-old desire to forge trading ties with legendarily rich Black societies" in Africa that were home to huge quantities of gold and an "inexhaustible source" of labour. It was along Africa's western coast that Europeans "perfected techniques of map-making and navigation", where ship designs were tested and improved and where sailors learned to understand the winds of the Atlantic Ocean. These experiences, mainly dating to the 1400s, were to prove instrumental not only in the settling of the Americas and the opening up of new trade routes to Europe. As it turned out, the most important consequences were for the people of Africa. The scale of human suffering that followed Columbus's crossing of the Atlantic is almost impossible to conceive, let alone describe: modern consensus is that around 12 million were put on slave ships in appalling conditions. Most were then worked to death, the lifespan of trafficked people reckoned to be seven years or less. It was cheaper, wrote one English planter on Antigua in 1751, "to work slaves to the utmost, and by the little fare and hard usage, to wear them out before they become useless and unable to do service, and then to buy new ones to fill up their places". Black lives literally did not matter - other than to make their "owners" rich. The disgusting way that European wealth rested on the backs, bodies and lives of people taken from Africa against their will, and then enslaved thousands of miles away to work on plantations producing sugar, tobacco, cotton and more, underpinned not only western empires but also the standards of living in faraway idylls such as England. How lucky the English are to live on an island and be surrounded by the ocean, said a ruler of Dahomey (now southern Benin), one of the largest states in Africa. "We, on the other hand," he said, "are hemmed in by a variety of other peoples, speaking different languages and constantly having to defend ourselves by the sharpness of our swords." As French explains, it was not just slavery that devastated swathes of Africa; so too did the process of enslavement. In addition to the 12 million people shipped across the Atlantic, another 6 million lives were lost in or near their homelands in the hunt for slaves. That placed extraordinary demographic strains on domestic societies, transformed agriculture and changed gender relations, as it was mainly able-bodied young men who were in demand to do the hard work in colonies overseas. Slavery led to fragmentation, fracture and warfare fuelled by weapons - above all, guns - that were sold by Europeans, forcing neighbouring states to compete with and turn on one another in an attempt to defend their own populations from being carted away. It had other effects too. The rich diversities of the many different people of Africa became subsumed into a single category of "blackness" that obscured and ignored proud histories and cultures and treated all the inhabitants of the continent and their descendants as being one and the same. That was ironic, of course, given that populations were deliberately distributed in the Americas and Caribbean to prevent family and kinship groups being able to communicate with each other, reducing the chances of rebellion against the Europeans who were heavily outnumbered. At times, the dehumanisation that French describes so powerfully is hard to read. In 1661, for example, a law was passed in Barbados that was then adopted in Antigua, Jamaica, South Carolina and beyond that declared that Africans were a "heathenish, brutish and uncertaine, dangerous kinde of people", and that white owners should therefore assume near total control over their lives. French discusses the scale of the back-breaking workload expected of slaves and the way that rose over time, and explains how this fuelled the industrialisation and modernisation of Britain and how black lives raised standards of living for people living on the other side of the world. These days, the importance of the role of transatlantic slavery is better known and more studied than it was in the past - and rightly so. This book, though, is about much more than that, for French offers a wider view of how and why Africa and its people's histories have been ignored, showing how the exploitation of the Americas and the Caribbean brought ecological dividends that then reshaped the world. French writes with the elegance you would expect from a distinguished foreign correspondent, and with the passion of someone deeply committed to providing a corrective. I wish he had gone beyond the middle of the 20th century to bring us up to date, not least because problems of historical legacy, of race and racism and of inequality are among today's most important issues - while the future of the people of Africa, which will be magnified by climate change, is the defining topic of tomorrow. This is not a comfortable or comforting read, but it is beautifully done; a masterpiece even.
Kirkus Review
A Black journalist reframes modern history by restoring Africa to its rightful place at the center of the story. In his latest sweeping book, French, a journalism professor at Columbia and former New York Times foreign correspondent, argues that Europe's conquest of the world was driven not by a desire for access to Asia, but rather a yearning for the modernity and economic prosperity of Africa. The author believes that restoring Africa's true place in world history and current affairs is a step toward combatting the racist "diminishment, trivialization, and erasure" of Africans from world history. To this end, French traces "the deeply twinned and tragic history of Africa and Europe that began with geopolitical collisions in the fifteenth century." The author maintains a particular focus on the roles of African gold, sugar, and slavery in shaping the modern global economy. Throughout, French dispels countless historical myths, including many that render Africans disempowered victims rather than key actors. For example, the author recounts how, in the 1440s, Portugal stopped raiding African countries for slaves, opting instead to negotiate trade agreements with powerful African leaders who profited from the sale of their own people. French also describes the ways in which--despite being painted as a backward continent--African industries were more sophisticated than European ones. The Portuguese were especially covetous of textiles and metalwork Africans produced using complex techniques unknown in Europe. The author effectively argues that these early beginnings shaped the modern era all the way to African independence movements in the World War II era. This meticulously researched book eloquently debunks conventional understanding of European conquest. While each page is so densely packed with facts that it sometimes feels more like a textbook than creative nonfiction, French's underlying argument and accompanying cogent analysis make for essential reading for anyone looking to decolonize their understanding of the Western world. A fascinating retelling of modern history that restores Africa to its rightful place. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Choice Review
In this wide-ranging exploration of Africa's role in creating the modern world, French (journalism, Columbia Univ.) draws on a broad array of secondary sources to explore how this history has been withheld from the larger, more popular public narrative that remains decidedly Eurocentric. This engaging work consists of five parts that coincide chronologically with the changing interactions among Africa, Europe, and the rest of the world. The book commences with the early European forays down the African coast, which in turn increased interactions between Africans and Europeans. From there, the work moves into the transatlantic slave trade, 19th-century imperialism, and finally Africa's place within and contributions to the modern world up to WW II. French does not cover the entire scope of this history, as both the histories of Africa and its interactions with the rest of the world are immense; he instead utilizes case studies throughout to make his point. This focus within each chapter is effective but does raise questions that make readers want more. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through graduate students. --Ty M. Reese, Univ. of North Dakota
Library Journal Review
Award-winning reporter French (journalism, Columbia Univ.; China's Second Continent) argues that citizens of Western countries too-often believe that their nation's economic power is the simple byproduct of its own success. Oftentimes, there is little to no credit given to the enslaved African who paid the ultimate price for white nations' wealth and prestige; French aims to correct the record in this book. He seamlessly guides readers through an immense 600-year global history of slavery, skillfully weaving in his own anecdotal experiences. French argues that it is time for historians to full-throatedly acknowledge that the events that marked significant global change (the Enlightenment, the American Revolution, industrialization) could not have happened without stealing the labor and resources of enslaved Africans throughout the Atlantic world. There are few words that can express the resounding impact of French's breathtaking work on the known historiography of African and African American history. VERDICT Highly recommended for any audience (professional or general) with an interest in African or African diaspora studies, history of the Atlantic slave trade, the Atlantic world, pre-industrialization, U.S. history, general world history, or sociology.--Monique Martinez, Univ. of North Georgia Lib., Dahlonega