Abolitionist Abroad: American Blacks and the Making of Modern West Africa, by Lamin Sanneh

The book Abolitionist Abroad: American Blacks and the Making of Modern West Africa, by Lamin Sanneh, focuses on the attempts of freed slaves to build a new society in West Africa based on the ideas of antislavery and anti-structure. Sanneh explains how the abolitionist movement affected not only the United States but also Europe and Africa. He goes into detail about the role that certain Africans had in the anti-slavery crusade. There are many negative attributes of this book, but in all the bad, there is some good. This book conveys excellent information, but it is the way in which it is presented that hinders the overall experience of the book.

Although this book gives great details and facts the author does not seem to make the information his. The book is composed of quote followed by quote. Maybe he did this to make the information have a greater impact on the reader, but it seems more like it was easier for him to quote it than to put it in his own words. It is understandable that one would like to have reliable information, but to make a book out of a stream of quotes makes if seem like a high school research paper. At times the insertion of the quote disturbs the flow of the section or paragraph. For example, on page 81 Sanneh describes the importance of preaching among Africans and then goes on to insert a quote about Olaudah Equiano’s encounter with a slave with an iron muzzle on. Sanneh then has to describe how the quote is relevant to the subject of preaching, which interrupts the flow of the paragraph. Gaps in the writing can be noticed, especially in the introduction and in the first chapter. There is a tremendous amount of information accompanied by many quotes introduced in these chapters, which cause the reading to seem discontinuous.

Many of the points that Sanneh puts forward in Abolitionist Abroad are repetitive. He continually integrates the fact that Africa and Europe collide. In actuality, this should not be the case because the title of the book reads Abolitionist Abroad: American Blacks and the Making of Modern West Africa. Nowhere in the title is there stated that the relationship between Europe and Africa will be discussed in the book. This is an important factor in the quest to abolish slavery, but it does not have to continually be repeated, especially if the title does not even state that Europe will be discussed.