James Walvin taught for many years at the University of York where he is now Professor of History Emeritus. He also held visiting positions in the Caribbean, the U.S.A. and Australia. He won the prestigious Martin Luther King Memorial Prize for his book Black and White, and has published widely on the history of slavery and the slave trade. His book The People's Game was a pioneering study of the history of football and remains in print thirty years after its first publication.

• Part 1 From Africa to slavery: Africa remembered; slave ships and landfall. Part 2 Varieties of slavery: a slave at sea; England, slaves and freedom; West Indian slavery; working for freedom; freedom in the shadow of slavery. Part 3 An English life: seeking salvation; all at sea again; life in England. Part 4 Public figure: back to Africa; the campaign against the slave trade; the book; black enlightenment. Part 5 Afterwards: decline and fall - and rediscovery.

"Walvin writes in a wonderfully easy style. The book grabs your attention, not only because of the intrinsic interest of Equiano's life, but because of all that Walvin tells us of the context." - Marika Sherwood, Black and Asian Studies Association