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The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery

Name: The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery
Brand: St. Martin's Press
SKU: 9781250348227
Price: 21.99 USD
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Contributors:

Siddharth Kara

Publisher:

St. Martin's Press

Binding:

Hardcover

Book Category:

History, Social Science

Book Subcategory:

Maritime History & Piracy, Slavery, Europe

Book Topic:

Great Britain

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The product is eligible for a complimentary return within 30 days from the date of purchase. Furthermore, individual items are shipped within 24 hours of receiving the order.

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Specifications +

Release Date:

10/14/2025

ISBN 13:

9781250348227

Weight:

1.1 lbs

Size:

9.41 x 6.55 x 1.05 inches

Pages:

304

Mint Condition +

product description

Description

From Pulitzer finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Cobalt Red: A notorious slave ship incident that led to the abolition of slavery in the UK and sparked the US abolitionist movement

In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa's Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning "care") was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique.

After reaching Africa, the Zorg was captured by a privateer and came under British command. With a new captain and crew, the ship was crammed with 442 slaves and departed in 1781 for Jamaica. But a series of unpredictable weather events and mistakes in navigation left the ship drastically off course and running out of water. So a proposition was put forth: Save the crew and the most valuable of the slaves--by throwing dozens of people, starting with women and children, overboard.

What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England's highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history--sparking the abolitionist movement in both England and the young United States

Siddharth Kara utilizes primary-source research, gripping storytelling, and painstaking investigation to uncover the Zorg's journey, the lives and fates of the slaves on board, and the mysterious identity of the abolitionist who finally revealed the truth of what happened on the ship.

About the Author
SIDDHARTH KARA is an author, researcher, and activist on modern slavery. Kara has written several books and reports on slavery and child labor, including the New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Cobalt Red. Kara also won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize. He has lectured at Harvard University and held a professorship at the University of Nottingham. He divides his time between Los Angeles and London.