Masters and their subalterns struggled with one another continuously. African battles fed captives to the transatlantic trade in slaves. European imperial conflicts extended the dominion of capitalist agriculture. Tacky’s Revolt illustrates how this process worked within one dense network of empire, slavery, and militancy. The violence of imperial expansion and enslavement remade the history of Europe, Africa, and the Americas, as they interacted across the Atlantic Ocean. All of these endeavors were underpinned by organized violence, which proliferated in attacks and counterattacks that linked intimate interactions with geopolitical forces. It is a phenomenon intimately intertwined with the imperial adventures that displaced indigenous peoples, the European competitions over colonial territories and resources, and the development of slave-based agriculture. as a nation state.Įndless war has a long history in the Americas.

But I think these priorities have deep roots in Anglo-American history that precede the creation of the U.S. This is reflected in the federal budget, of course. Part of the reason for this shocking and humbling death toll is surely that waging war is a higher priority for the United States than the general health of its population. Vincent Brown: More than 100,000 Americans have been killed by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, exceeding the combined number of American soldiers killed in all U.S. Roberto Sirvent: How can your book help BAR readers understand the current political and social climate? His book is Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War. Brown is the Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

This week’s featured author is Vincent Brown. In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. “ The violence of imperial expansion and enslavement remade the history of Europe, Africa, and the Americas.”

The Jamaican slave revolt of 1760-1761 was one war within an interlinked network of other wars.

Tacky's revolt book