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William Wilberforce: The Life Of The Great Anti Slave Trade Campaigner (2007)

by William Hague(Favorite Author)

4.3 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0007228864 (ISBN13: 9780007228867)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Harper Perennial

review 1: A fairly detailed biography of one of the truly great figures of British history, Hague shows he was putting his own years in the political wilderness to good use. If I have a quibble, it's that I sometimes felt the detail of Wilberforce's electoral exploits was crowding out the detail of the time and culture on which he exerted such a powerful influence, but Hague ensures that nothing obscures a detailed and affectionate picture of Wilberforce himself.
review 2: Wilberforce was an independent and independently minded politician who, through his deep seated Christianity and sense of morality embarked on a campaign that took up almost the last 50 years of his life to abolish the slave trade. William Hague tells the story in great detail, in a well researched and... more readable manner. Like many people of his time Wilberforce was a diarist and a great letter writer and Hague makes great use of this material to paint a picture not only of what Wilberforce did but also what he thought and why he did things the way he did.Hague, being a distinguished politician and parliamentarian in his own right, also describes in great detail how British "democracy" worked at the beginning of the 19th century with its rotten boroughs, patronage, uncontested elections and voters being paid their expenses to vote by the candidates. He also provides a vivid historical backdrop of the period and how the events that preceded and coincide with Wilberforce's life influenced the thinking of people at that time: The Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the almost constant state of war mainly against the french, the Regency and the role of the Monarchy in the government of the country.This political biography is unusual because as Hague points out at the end, Wilberforce's was a life fulfilled. He achieved what he set out to achieve. There are not many politicians who can say that.If you want to know more about Wilberforce, the slave trade or just that period in British history then I would recommend this book. less

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