Before everyone rushes off to purchases a copy of Simple Seeker's bible

The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870. By Hugh Thomas. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997,

It would be well to read the reviews of this somewhat flawed work. A representative one is available Here and there are many others.

Please also note that this is a work on the slave TRADE, not the institution of slavery or the abolition movement.