Sweet Water and Bitter

By Siân Rees,

Book cover of Sweet Water and Bitter: The Ships That Stopped the Slave Trade

Book description

Sweet Water and Bitter is the extraordinary sequel to Britain's abolition of the slave trade in 1807. The last legal British slave ship left Africa that year, but other countries and illegal slavers continued to trade. When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, British diplomats negotiated anti-slave-trade treaties and a…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Sweet Water and Bitter as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

While doing research on the British campaign to end the slave trade, I read many books, but no book transported me to the decks of the slave ships and to the rugged coast of Africa like Sweet Water and Bitter. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade is placed in its historical, military, and economic context, but Siân Rees also shows the human side of the story. On every page, there is another amazing/shocking/heartbreaking/inspiring vignette. You meet the sailors and missionaries who fought to smother the slave trade, often at the cost of their lives. The hopes and hardships of life in…

If you love Sweet Water and Bitter...

Ad

Book cover of Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS

Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS By Amy Carney,

When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…

Want books like Sweet Water and Bitter?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Sweet Water and Bitter.

Browse books like Sweet Water and Bitter

Book cover of Regency Spies: Secret Histories of Britain's Rebels and Revolutionaries
Book cover of The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
Book cover of Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen's England

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,608

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Sweet Water and Bitter, you might also like...

Book cover of Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption

Who Is a Worthy Mother? By Rebecca Wellington,

I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…

Book cover of Benghazi! A New History of the Fiasco that Pushed America and its World to the Brink

Benghazi! A New History of the Fiasco that Pushed America and its World to the Brink By Ethan Chorin,

Benghazi: A New History is a look back at the enigmatic 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, its long-tail causes, and devastating (and largely unexamined) consequences for US domestic politics and foreign policy. It contains information not found elsewhere, and is backed up by 40 pages of…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in slaves, liberty, and naval history?

Slaves 106 books
Liberty 63 books
Naval History 27 books