Moral Capital

“Moral Capital is remarkable in . . . managing to say something genuinely new about a subject that has been discussed and written about for two centuries; and that . . . is no small achievement.”—Times Literary Supplement

“A crucial intervention in our understanding of the international pressures that led to . . . the term 'British anti-slavery'. . . . . This meditation on the vastly complex social and iintellectual origins of British anti-slavery activism takes us back to basics, and asks radical questions that historians of the Atlantic diaspora will now need to ponder.”—American Historical Review

"A comprehensive and encyclopedic analysis of early British abolitionism that will be standard reading for all interested in the subject.”—Journal of the Early Republic

“Brown’s meticulous and lucid analysis of the self-regarding, self-interested, and self-validating impulse in British abolitionism presents a much more nuanced and compelling argument than we have seen before.”—New West Indian Guide

“A provocative rereading of the origins of late eighteenth-century British antislavery. Beautifully written and elegantly paced. . . . [Brown’s] is an outstanding contribution to an enormous and critical historiography.”—Journal of American History

“An impressive array of primary sources. . . . Capturing the complexity of abolitionism’s development . . . A significant study that sheds new light.”—Journal of Religion

“Elegant and persuasive. . . . Effectively reframe[s] our traditional portraits of antislavery as humanitarian reform more generally at the turn of the eighteenth century.”—William and Mary Quarterly

“This is a carefully crafted study that will be widely appreciated by historians of slavery, imperial history, the American Revolution and eighteenth-century British domestic politics.”—Patterns of Prejudice

“A major reassessment of a movement that has usually been studied from a much more limited perspective.”—Itinerario

“In what is likely to become a landmark study in the history of British abolitionism, Brown provides a nuanced and compelling interpretation of its roots. . . . This outstanding and timely study will have a broad impact. Essential.”—CHOICE