Review by Booklist Review
Researcher Rooks recovers a little-known history in the transatlantic slave trade in her narrative of the swift Black Joke, a captured slave ship redeployed to pursue slavers in order to liberate trafficked humans suffering belowdecks. Rooks is unequivocally skeptical of Britain's righteous anti-slavery proclamations as having any altruistic rather than purely economic motive, a moral ambiguity rendering the British only "nominal liberators" of enslaved people. Rooks maintains a cheerfully sardonic tone toward sailors jockeying for promotion and an empire politicking to maintain its competitive edge in global wealth. She details the Sysiphean task of seizing slavers only for them to return, rechristened under new management, to the grotesque industry. The author's background in Library and Information Science shows in her dedicated archival research chronicling each of the Black Joke's captures of slave ships. Altogether, Rooks is a masterful storycrafter, layering drama of swashbuckling moral battles on the high seas over labyrinthine nuances of maritime law to honor the true protagonists: African peoples, their suffering made plain and their identities preserved in Sierra Leone's Liberated African registers. Full of primary sources, diagrams, and images, The Black Joke combines information with voice, the best of straight nonfiction with narrative nonfiction, as it adds to the history of the translatlantic slave trade.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Jeopardy! winner Rooks debuts with an accessible history of the Black Joke, the flagship of Britain's anti-slavery West African Squadron. Enforcing multinational treaties banning the slave trade, the Black Joke captured 13 slave ships off the west coast of Africa between 1828 and 1832 and freed at least 3,000 people. Describing the Black Joke as "an image of morality and principle, regularly disrupted by waves of indifference to and profit from the trade in human chattel," Rooks documents its early use as a Brazilian slave ship (called the Henriqueta), its capture by the Royal Navy, and its repurposing to fight the slave trade. She then delves into each of the Black Joke's victories, profiling captains and crew members and reproducing documents from Sierra Leone's Liberated African registers listing the people who were freed. Rooks also describes the politics behind Britain's attempts to get other European powers to follow its lead in abolishing the slave trade and draws a vivid picture of life aboard the Black Joke, where dangers included disease, pirates, and foul weather. Though the writing occasionally lacks polish, Rooks succeeds in capturing the human dimensions of the story. This is an enlightening take on a lesser-known aspect of the fight to end slavery. Illus. Agent: Jess Regel, Helm Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In 1807, the British prohibited the transatlantic slave trade in the British Empire and established the West African Squadron (WAS) to patrol the African coast and seize vessels transporting enslaved people. In her first book, Rooks discusses the career of the Black Joke, an American-built slaving ship captured by the British and pressed into service for the WAS. Prized for its speed and agility, between 1827 and 1832 this small ship, with a crew of approximately 50 men, captured dozens of slaving ships and freed thousands of enslaved people, making it one of the most successful WAS ships. Rooks demonstrates how the Black Joke reflected Britain's bifurcated position in the world: a guarantor of morality yet indifferent to profits made from slavery. In this beautifully written book, Rooks paints an exciting portrait of the exploits of this ship and its crew. The author pays careful attention to the multiracial crews of British ships, giving special attention to the Kroomen, members of a tribe from Liberia, valued for their sailing and onboard skills. VERDICT Rooks's sensitive treatment of enslaved people and the crew of the Black Joke makes this a recommended read for those interested in slavery studies and British or West African history.--Chad E. Statler
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An archival deep dive into the last days of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Polymath Rooks, a two-time Jeopardy! champion who has degrees in theater, law, and library science, turns her prodigious research skills to what amounts to a historical footnote to hundreds of years of human misery--though this footnote is well worth a close look. Toward the end of Britain's involvement in the slave trade, during which the nation "shipped approximately 3.1 million enslaved Africans to ports scattered throughout the Americas," the Admiralty allowed British seafarers to seize slave ships and return their human cargo to Freetown, in Sierra Leone. If the captain of the slave ship were convicted, the ships became booty, and the enslaved people aboard would be freed. Rooks looks closely at one ship, the Henriqueta, which had brought thousands of enslaved people to Brazil. Seized in midjourney, the fast-running ship became the Black Joke, with a taunt in its very name, which went on to seize another dozen slave ships in its time. This was perilous work, as Rooks shows, involving dangerous weapons and disease, and freedom in Sierra Leone wasn't really freedom at all. "The newly liberated Africans became British," she writes, "whether they wanted to or not, and the adults were given three options--they could become 'free apprentices in the West Indies,' join a segregated regiment of troops, or settle on one of the estates bordering Freetown." In any instance, the people were still in servitude, whether fighting Britain's wars or harvesting sugar cane in the Caribbean. Rooks lauds the anti-slavery sentiments of the British sailors, albeit driven by self-interest, for exhibiting the "political will to do the right, hard thing," though it took decades for Britain to take full account and make restitution. A tale skillfully teased out of the vaults and made vivid by an artful narrative. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
