Books covering royal history are regularly published. We get biographies, we get a new lens on a reign, we explore a dynasty through a lesser-known figure. However, we often get a new book that makes you stop in your tracks. In my undergraduate degree, my professors did cover the British slave trade and mentioned the role of the monarchy. Unfortunately, undergrad courses don’t allow you time to fully immerse yourself, though, and this is a topic that deserves our full attention. Let’s get into what I think will be one of the best non-fiction books of the year, The Crown’s Silence by Dr. Brooke N. Newman.
Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for providing an Advanced Listening Copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas, Dr. Brooke N. Newman
For centuries, Britain has told itself and the world that it is an abolitionist nation, one that, unlike the United States, rejected human bondage and dismantled its Atlantic slave empire without tearing itself apart in violence. An abolitionist nation headed by a just, humane monarch who liberated enslaved Africans and recognized their descendants as free and equal subjects of the British Crown. As Prince William put it recently, “We’re very much not a racist family.” When slaveholding nations write their collective history, the enslavers hold the pen.
Now, acclaimed historian Brooke Newman reveals the true story: the enslavers were supported by members of the royal family. From the 1560s to 1807, the British monarchy invested in the transatlantic slave trade and built a slave empire in colonial America and the Caribbean, with the labor of millions of enslaved Africans who would see none of its riches. It profited from African slave trading and hereditary bondage, setting the stage for other colonial powers to develop brutal slave systems that remained legal long after full emancipation in the British Empire in 1838. The scars of this history remain visible the world over, from economic inequality and educational and health disparities to racial discrimination and prejudice. Still, Crown officials continue to insist the legacies of slavery “belong to the past.”
Newman focuses not on portraits of British monarchs but on their actions and investments that led to the rise and fall of the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery, and on some of the people whose lives it took, placing the struggles and sacrifices of innumerable individuals of African origin and ancestry at the center of Britain’s story.
Why You Should Read This…
This has been on my to-read list for the last six months and it did not disappoint.
To get this out of the way, this is not a book you randomly pick up. Firstly, it is much closer to an academic monograph than a book published for the general public. That doesn’t mean in any way that you need specialist knowledge to read or understand The Crown’s Silence but it is a slower-paced book that methodically takes you through events, episodes, and sources. I would allow yourself a good deal of time to sit with the book, as it does ask many questions of us as readers.
Secondly, although it is obvious- this is a heavy and dark topic. It is humankind at some of its worst moments, and it deserves far more than a casual flip-through. Newman handles it with care and thought, but it is difficult to read. That means that we should be giving this our attention, though, not looking away.
Newman’s work with the sources is incredible. She has not only covered a wide range of sources but an immense volume. You can often find historians making dramatic claims that fall apart under scrutiny. However, give yourself to famiilarise yourself with some of the sources and you will see her claims are more than supported.
Allyson Johnson’s narration is fantastic, also. As I said above, this is a difficult and heavy topic. Not only did Johnson treat everything respectfully, she made this a very engaging audiobook. A wonderful job.
Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for providing an Advanced Listening Copy in exchange for an honest review.
Is The Crown’s Silence by Dr. Brooke N. Newman on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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