Interest

Discover how the campaign to end slavery divided Britain and was almost thwarted by some of the most powerful and famous figures of the era.**SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING** In 1807, Parliament outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire. But for the next 25 years more than 700,000 people remained enslaved, due to the immensely powerful pro-slavery group the 'West India Interest'. This ground-breaking history discloses the extent to which the 'Interest' were supported by nearly every figure of the British establishment - fighting, not to abolish slavery, but to maintain it for profit. Gripping and unflinching, The Interest is the long-overdue exposé of one of Britain's darkest, most turbulent times. A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A critical piece of history and a devastating exposé' Shashi Tharoor, author of Inglorious Empire 'Thoroughly researched and potent' David Lammy MP 'Essential reading' Simon Sebag Montefiore

An outstanding and gripping revelation ... essential reading, Impressively researched and engagingly written, A magnificent book ... riveting, Powerful ... engrossing ... Taylor's potent book shows why slavery took root as an essential part of British national life, Taylor can tell a story superbly and has a fine eye for detail ... His argument is a potent and necessary corrective to a cosy national myth

Michael Taylor is the author of The Interest: How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2021, chosen as a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year and described as 'riveting' (The Times) and 'compulsively readable' (Guardian). He graduated with a double first in history from the University of Cambridge, where he earned his PhD, and has since been Lecturer in Modern British History at Balliol College, Oxford, and a Visiting Fellow at the British Library's Eccles Centre for American Studies.