Amazing piece of nonfiction that you will not want to miss! Packed with tons of information that will blow your mind.

Sorry! I confused this book with 'Ledger and the Chain'! Oops!

This was one of a handful of books sent to me that i couldn't get to before it disappeared.
Not long before selecting this book, I took on a huge project involving the pirate trade in the 1700s. i thought this a few others would aid me in the project of understanding the shipping issues in the past few hundred years.
However, i had to read, instead, about very specific areas of the pirating and privateers and found I couldn't get to volumes like this.
Before I knew it, the book was no longer available.

Soon I found a really horrible book offered here, due to not being able to see samples before downloading and have stepped away the past 5+ months.

In that I never read the book and can't leave a fair review and this require me leave something, I will give it an even 5 out of ten points.

this was a interesting historical read, I had never heard about the slave trade that was going on from New York to Cuba. Mr. Harris is able to create an read that is both interesting and educational.

After the importation of slaves was outlawed in 1807 the trade continued for quite a long time, primarily in the United States, Cuba and Brazil. It was remarkably resilient due to the large amounts of money to be made, racism and the absence of strong penalties. No trader was executed until after Lincoln was elected. I am probably not the right audience for this book because it had a lot more detail about the economics and logistics of the slave trade than I really wanted to know. The author did a tremendous amount of research and related all of it. There was no real description of conditions on the slave ships until about the 30% point of the book. Endnotes comprise about 20% of the ebook. The book was interesting, but extremely dry.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

This is a really troubling, honest look at America's role in enslaving people and carrying them over on ships, long after doing so had been outlawed. Interestingly, American's ignored their own hand in the slave trade while blaming the problem on Spain (via Cuba). In reality it was happening on both sides of the Atlantic. As the major powers began to agree to stop importing ships with enslaved people, they all continued the practice with little in the way of punishment.

Here's one fact that I found particularly interesting. In 1862, the ironically named "Lucky Nat" Gordon was captured aboard a slave boat and sentenced to death. He was the first and last American slave trader to be executed under American Law.

For me, there were too many unfamiliar names to remember and keeping track of them in my head became impossible and so I stopped worrying about it. Truthfully, this book was a bit more in depth than I needed and I'm not the right audience for this book. Whereas, for those more familiar with this history, the author's incredible research and attention to detail will undoubtedly be appreciated and they will likely give this book four or five stars.

Note: I've downloaded a bunch of free, (mostly) random, pre-releases of books with the idea of expanding my range and helping authors get reviews. #netgalley

Structure and Formatting 5/5
I enjoyed the way this book was set up. I typically don't like longer chapters, but it really worked for this book.

Thoroughness of Research 5/5
I knew nothing about the slave trade going into this book, and I am amazed (and yet not) at the amount of resources and sources available for this subject. If I ever decide to go looking for additional books to read on this topic, the sources in the back provide a wealth of them to check out.

Storytelling/Writing 5/5
A very somber tone was set at the very beginning of the book, and it felt like an appropriate tone that carried throughout the book. This is not an easy book to read, but the stories within it are worth knowing and learning about.

Level of Enjoyment 4.5
Enjoyment feels like the wrong word here, so maybe we'll go with "impact?" There was a section on spies that really <i>should</i> have gripped me, but it just didn't. Otherwise, this book weighs heavy on the reader right from the beginning, and it will sit with me for a while as a result.

Prior Knowledge Needed 3.5/5
I don't know nearly enough Cuban history to really appreciate some of the Cuban aspects of this triangle. In the ARC copy I had, there was no map of the island of Cuba (other than pointing out three cities), and there were many times when I felt a map could have helped with the talk of ports. And the Portuguese connections weren't explained well enough for me to grasp their role in the triangle. It left me with more questions than I typically prefer when starting a new subject.

A fascinating and very detailed account of the transatlantic slave trade between 1820 and the end of the Civil War especially at the time when Western Europe was starting to make slavery illegal while the US was turning a blind eye and knowingly allowing the illegal trading to go on and even flourish on American soil.
When Brazil abolished slavery in 1850, it was obvious that traders weren't going simply to disappear because economically speaking too much was at stake. They simply shifted their business northward with the Americans' blessings, even managing to turn NYC at one point into a major hubb for the illegal trade. For the American government slavery was and remained an important source of revenue for the economy so it simply allowed the trade to move North and keep prospering while it tried to do its utmost to thwart any effort that Western Europe, especially the UK did to put an end to it once and for all, prior to 1860. And it went on of course until 1867....

John Harris does a great job dissecting all the financial and political shenanigans that went on for almost 50 years until the illegal trade stopped but unfortunately the damage was done and the suffering those 50 years of human trafficking inflicted on the slaves out of pure financial interest & greed was too staggering to be ignored and still is today. An indelible stain on American history and that's for sure.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Yale University Press for giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful book prior to its release date

Reviews published at Ricochet.com (https://ricochet.com/864071/the-new-york-based-slave-trade/) and Ratburger.org (http://www.ratburger.org/index.php/2021/01/10/this-weeks-book-review-the-last-slave-ships/)

A moving story and a very well researched book regarding the last slave ship that sailed after it was ruled illegal. It is a very powerful and very informative read. Not a book that can be read quickly. There is a lot of information to digest, but it is very well worth it.

Being a native New Yorker and a history teacher I really wanted to read this book. I learned a lot and while it was definitely a hard read, it is an important read. I am glad I read it. I plan on using the new things that I learned in my classroom.

A well-researched book of the last slave ships leaving Africa, heading to the New World. The major traffickers, how they raised the money for these ships and the management of human slavery is well told by this talented author.A well-researched book of the last slave ships leaving Africa, heading to the New World. The major traffickers, how they raised the money for these ships and the management of human slavery is well told by this talented author.

A very informative read! When it comes to parts of history like slavery it’s never enough information and education! To know the repercussions people feel to this day!