Fighting Slavery in the Caribbean

This volume presents a social history of life in mid-19th-century Cuba as experienced by George Backhouse (and his wife Grace) who served on the British Havana Mixed Commission for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. Documented with extracts from the Backhouse's correspondence diaries and other contemporary papers Martinez-Fernandez paints a detailed picture of the Cuban slave trade its role in the sugar industry and the interrelated contradictions within Cuba's economy society and politics. The Backhouse story provides addition al insights into important aspects of life in the male city of Havana social antagonisms between Britons and North Americans interactions with European social circles religious tension and the reality of tropical disease. Drama is added to the narrative in the author's description of the tragic and mysterious murder of George Backhouse in August 1855 possibly the result of a slave traders' conspiracy.