Herman Melville wrote a novel about the historical incident at the center of this book—enslaved Africans took over a slave ship and then, nearly out of resources, forced the captain to pretend that all was well and seek aid from an American ship that came near, captained by Amasa Delano (yes, that family). But the scheme was revealed and the mutineers killed or reenslaved. The book is about South American slavery, the links between the Americas, and the resource extraction that encompassed slavery but also included the massively wasteful sealing operations that Delano’s ship was trying to profit from. It couldn’t because the seals had quickly been depopulated; Delano also failed to get what he thought was a just reward for helping the enslavers retake the other ship. It’s a story of intersecting lifeworlds and brutalities. ( )

Of course, its not really an untold history. Its been told at least twice before - once by one of the participants, Amasa Delano, and a fictionalised version by Herman Melville, in his book Benito Cerreno, the name of another of the participants.

But admittedly, its not a story that is well known. For slaves held on a slave transport to rise up was not especially remarkable; Grandin refers to almost 500 such cases. But what was unusual was for the slaves to take control of the ship, but construct a facade such that Cerreno still appeared to be the master, such that a visiting Captain, Delano was fooled.

And Grandin tells this story well. But of course, there is not a tremendous amount to tell. And so Grandin fills it out not only with the back stories of Delano, Cerreno and such of the slaves that are recorded and, as might be expected, general context of the slave trade, but also goes down many interesting rabbit holes, such as the sealing trade (brutal and devastating to seal populations, and must have obviously been so), the reasons for the distaste for Muslim slaves (but they took them anyway), how marine insurance worked, and much else.

Mostly this is interesting and works. Sometimes it feels like the padding it undoubtedly is. Grandin has, after all, managed to turn a chapter of Delano's autobiography into an entire book. None the less, the reader will come away with a much better understanding of slavery, the slave trade, and the appalling privations that slaves faced on long journeys to the other side of the world. Recommended ( )

Though well-written, this is not an easy read: Grandin's narrative has breathtaking scope, changes focus so often, and weaves in so much that at times one must really slow down or even backtrack to make sense of it all. But the payoff for patient reading is great. By virtue of my profession, I had a pretty decent prior knowledge of many (by no means all) subjects explored here, but Grandin arranges his material into new combinations that have transformed and challenged my understanding. Also, Grandin writes about Melville with a feeling for literature and a critical insight not (from my experience) always to be expected when historians write about literature.

There are weaknesses. The narrative, perhaps inevitably given its scope, is often disjointed, and again although the scope of the narrative excuses this to some extent, I think a more unified and coherent narrative was possible. And I rarely found Grandin's efforts to interpret the Tryal rebels's motivations and actions in terms of elements of Islamic belief and culture more than speculative. ( )

This will be a short review as I am currently deployed and the internet connection here is tenuous at best. This was a highly entertaining and informative volume; Grandin does an excellent job of covering most of the selected topics in an appropriate depth and in an accessible manner. Grandin weaves together many different threads in a manner that is relatively easy to follow and provides a narrative-esque flow to many parts of the book. I would recommend this book to others. ( )

I learned quite a few new things about slavery in South America, and was reintroduced to many more. Slavery in Spanish America laid the template for slavery in the South in ways that are complex and culturally tied to the newly burgeoning merchant class in the New World (whalers, seal hunters, plantation owners, timber barons, slave traders, speculators, and the like) and industrial capitalism. Slavery was also partly responsible for major changes to modern medicine, law, trade agreements, revolutions and/or governmental shifts, etc.

In addition, there are also a lot of strange connections between the slave revolt that influenced Herman Melville’s novel Benito Cereno and the book of fiction that was birthed from its non-fiction narrative. Melville and his relatives were connected to real-life players in the slave revolt drama on the Tryal (San Dominick in the novel) in ways that challenge the boundaries of “the real” and “the fictive.”

There are many digressions and interludes along the way. For me, they functioned much like many of the tangents in Moby-Dick, always leading back to the main narrative and propping it up in ways that I didn't anticipate when the break began.

I have to go back and read this again. Dense and chewy, without being overly "academic" or pretentious (although it is heavily researched and noted).

Highly recommended. ( )

This is a very literary, philosophical, and sociological, book on the slave trade told mainly through the point of view of merchant slave ship owners and captains. The jumping off point for this originative history is the real 1804 maritime slave rebellion involving Captain Amasa Delano, an event which Herman Melville novelized in his book, Bonito Cereno. There were many new insights; slavery’s impact in South America, connections to sealing and whaling, the maritime complexities of the trade, along with many literary connections. SRH ( )

This is a very literary, philosophical, and sociological, book on the slave trade told mainly through the point of view of merchant slave ship owners and captains. The jumping off point for this originative history is the real 1804 maritime slave rebellion involving Captain Amasa Delano, an event which Herman Melville novelized in his book, Bonito Cereno. There were many new insights; slavery’s impact in South America, connections to sealing and whaling, the maritime complexities of the trade, along with many literary connections. Disturbing and thoroughly engaging. ( )

Last year I spent four weeks teaching Herman Melville's "Benito Cereno," so I was thrilled to win Grandin's book contextualizing and enlarging on that story of a slave revolt on the ship Tryal. Grandin details the journeys the slaves endured before the revolt, the mercantile politics of the ship's captains, and the institution of slavery in the Americas. At times, though, Grandin is too far-ranging. In the midst of narrating the revolt, he takes a twenty page break, discussing another revolt, the importance of Islam to West African culture, and the United States' views on the Haitian revolution. All of these topics are fascinating, as are the many other digressions throughout. For all their interest, though, they detract from the momentum of the story and so, though I was indeed thrilled to read this book at first, I found it easy to put down for weeks at a time.

Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this to anyone interested in Melville, New England shipping history, or in the nineteenth century slave trade. ( )

I was very excited to win this book through the First Reads program, as the provided description made it sound right up my alley--unfortunately, Grandin's writing style wasn't to my taste. While it's obvious that he did massive amounts of research for this book, and I did appreciate the depth of his knowledge and expertise, I wanted a more sharply focused narrative instead of so many rambling passages about topics only tangentially related to his main one. (The long description of the gruesome realities of 19th century seal hunting especially got to me.)

I'm sure that other readers will love Grandin's somewhat aimless wandering of the historical landscape here, and I did give him 3 stars for the quality of his research, but overall the book wasn't for me. ( )

The Empire of Necessity is a complex book by Greg Grandin following the lives of several men, some slaves from Africa and the other an American captain of a sealer who meet on an uninhabited island off Chile in the early 1800's. The story of the slaves, with multiple tangential discourses, begins in Africa to being sold into slavery, taken to the New World, marched across South American and again placed on a ship. It this last ship where the slaves revolt and take over the ship. They are found adrift by the American captain of a sealer, who is initially taken in as the slaves take the role of slaves to fool the captain.
The American captain is followed through much of his career and how cultural mores were different than today's. Once he realizes the slaves have revolted and were in control of the ship he attacks and wrets control from them. However, the slaves, being property, were killed in the attack. Thus, much wrangling of who saved who and what was lost in the process begins.
I found this book a difficult read because the story had too many asides of significant length that the story itself was lost to me. Segments on the whaling and sealing at the time were extraneous to the main story. The book ends with a discussion of Moby Dick and the parallels to that and this revolt. I give this book 3 stars. ( )

I expected this book to have more information earlier in the book about the slave rebellion it is supposed to be about. Instead, I found myself reading more about slavery in general, especially in South America. I did find parts of it interesting, and learned more about the economic impact of slavery on New England even while slavery there was not common, and about slavery before the southern US was as heavily mired in it as it would become.

However, the writing felt disjointed to me. It didn't flow well, and I felt like I was looking at a kaleidoscope of bits and pieces rather than a whole picture. Despite a highly emotional subject, it was somewhat dry.

I was prepared to read about slavery, as horrible a subject as that is. I was not prepared for a treatise on Moby Dick, a novel I've spent decades avoiding. And I especially was not prepared to read about the brutality, described in gory detail, of the whale and seal killing so prevalent then (and still today, to a lesser extent), even though I'd managed to make it through a description of the hide and meat market. I skimmed over some of that and started reading again, only to find that I really, really didn't want to go on. I quit halfway through. I don't often do that, but when I realize that a book has become a chore to read, I sometimes give myself a break.

While the book was interesting and did introduce me to some new material, the writing did not meet my expectations, and there was too much off-subject information I could not make myself read.

Given that, I think some readers will appreciate the good information it does contain, even though the writing disappointed me. ( )

Herman Melville's book Benito Cerreno is about a slave revolt on a ship in 1805. Grandin's book is about the history of the real-life event. Slaves revolt on a ship, The Trial, when their ship is discovered by another ship captain, Amasa Delano. Delano's men slaughter many of the slaves, and the rest are returned to slavery and denied their freedom.

Grandin's main focus is on the paradox of American countries who valued freedom and equality despite the fact that freedom and equality led to an increase in slavery- the very opposite of freedom and equality. Grandin relates this paradox through both the historical record and through frequent interludes in which he compares Melville's thoughts on the situation.

Overall, it makes for a very interesting read. Grandin's writing is not dry at all and kept me wanting to read more, and the depth of research that he did is astonishing. I learned a lot about the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Spanish-American revolutions, the men involved, nineteenth century shipping, and Herman Melville. This made for a very rewarding reading experience. ( )

In 1805, the New England-born captain of a sealing vessel off the coast of Chile came upon another ship seemingly in trouble. After contacting the other ship, Captain Amasa Delano and a few of his crew went aboard the slaver ship and spent most of the next 12 hours giving aid - supplies, fresh water, etc. It wasn't until he was leaving that Benito Cerano, the other captain got the message to him that in fact, the slaves had taken over his ship, killed most of his crew, and forced him to try to take them back to West Africa. Delano, an Abolitionist, reacted by taking back the ship, killing most of the rebellious slaves and clapping the rest in irons with an eye to selling them as payment for his assistance.

This tragic episode forms the basis of Greg Grandin's excellent The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom and Deception. Grandin starts with the various pieces of the story - the captains, the ships, the leaders of the revolt - and shows how they converged on this place and time. Along the way, he gives a brutally honest picture of the slave trade in Spanish South America. For instance, his description of the land passage across the pampas and the Andes from Argentina to Peru was absolutely horrific.

Grandin is one of those rare academics that can communicate very complicated issues in a way that's understandable but not simplistic. There's a lot to think about here, and The Empire of Necessity is a good contribution to the discussion. ( )

Engaging read. Slavery, economics and the human cost of survival in the early 19th century. ( )

Greg Grandin takes as his starting point the 1805 encounter between Capt. Amasa Delano and the slave ship Tryal, in the South Pacific, a story fictionalized by Herman Melville in his short novel, Benito Cereno. Grandin traces all of the threads that led to the encounter--the lives of the men involved, and of their ships--to explore the history of the slave trade in the Americas, colonial hubris, cruelty, seal hunting, sailing, The Haitian Revolution, and contemporary philosophies about the nature of freedom. It's a wide-ranging, well-researched, and at times heart-breaking history. The reader learns something new in every chapter; the main theme is the economic forces that drove the worldwide slave trade, yet as is often the case with the best popular history of this type, the detours are rich with some of the most fascinating detail. In the end, Grandin corrals everything back to the fatal confrontation between Delano and the Tryal slaves. Americans are often unfamiliar with the history of slavery in Latin America; this book is a thoughtful and at times even gripping introduction. ( )

This history of a 19th century slave ship rebellion and the culture that brought it about is a harsh reality to examine. Where many thought “Freedom” meant their right to own another human being. To give the latter his rights was in the owner’s mind, an attempt to reduce his own personal liberties. This is certainly not a “fun” read but is filled with facts and deeds that were true to the times. Shameful yet life affirming at the same time. It is filled with mutinies, murderous plots, good intentions gone wrong and everyone trying to get what they believe they deserve. I found it highly illuminating. ( )

If you read only one history book this year, "The Empire of Necessity" by Greg Grandin should be the one. In telling the fascinating story of a slave revolt aboard a Spanish ship in 1805 which was put down by a New England sea captain, Grandin delivers a comprehensive and eloquent and analysis of the evils of the slave trade. This is a book which is both deeply disturbing and deeply moving. This is painstaking research combined with a literary force.

Perhaps some have the notion that slavery was the product of a cabal of wicked men. Grandin analyzes the gruesome economics of slavery as well as the mindset needed for it to flourish. His undeniable conclusion was that slavery was the result of an excess in freedom enjoyed by others. Slavery was a means for men and societies to become wealthy, very wealthy. The creedos of the American and French Revolutions ironically both inspired slaves in their struggle for freedom and slavers in their quest to maximize gain free from interference.

The story is of a revolt aboard a Spanish slave ship which was put down by a New England sea captain. it would inspire, Herman Melville's novel Benito Cerano. Grandin analyzes the background and philosophies of the all them men involved, without presuming to enter their minds. The slaves were Muslims from West Africa, who found in their own faith the tools and dignity to challenge slavery both philosophically and morally. After their uprising on the ship they force the Spanish captain to sign a contract to take them back home.

Grandin crunches the hard numbers of slavery while at the same time is able to deliver a visceral account of the slave pens for newly arrived survivors of the middle passage. This is literature as history and history as literature. While Grandin does not raise the point, all the themes of this book from the complicated notion of freedom, to environmental degradation, to the clash of cultures, to economic exploitation are so easily transposed onto our nightly news it is almost bone chilling. ( )

The book I have just finished reading is not the book I expected it to be, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

What I expected when I selected Greg Grandin’s new book was an interesting tale of a New England ship’s captain who, when faced with a dramatic situation involving a Spanish ship and crew that has fallen prey to a slave revolt, responds in a manner seemingly contrary to his abolitionist views. While the book does tell this story, the amount of print dedicated to covering it is fairly small, comparable to what one would find in an article in Smithsonian Magazine. Furthermore, Amasa Delano, the captain in question, turns out to be a man driven by motives that are with much more venal motives than the book’s summary lets on.

Even so, the book is not without its appeal. Grandin exhibits a fascination with the idea of ‘big history’ and, as a result, spends the majority of the book describing how different subjects such slavery, religion, commerce and politics relate to each other in the grand scheme of things. If you enjoy history and pondering why thing are the way they are, this is fascinating stuff.

The only thing that really bugged me about the book is the author’s habit of using the word ‘hung’ to describe someone who has been executed. I’ve always been taught that laundry is hung and people are hanged. I am reading an ARC provided by the publisher, though, so this error may be corrected by the final edition goes to press.

Bottom line: If you are considering this book just because you want to learn about the story of Amasa Delano and his encounter with the Tryal, you can do it more quickly and cheaply by reading chapter 18 of Delano's Narrative of Voyages and Travels, which he published in 1817. If, however, you are looking for a book which gives you the big picture of the salve trade and how it insinuated itself into every aspect of life around the globe, this would be a good place to start.

*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via the Amazon Vine Program. ( )

History, South America,Slavery,Whaling,Sealing ( )