Reviews
This well-researched and well-written work makes a significant contribution to the study of slavery in early Florida.
--Library Journal
Kingsley is indeed a puzzling figure, and a fascinating one. He was an adventurer, slave trader, businessman and gimcrack social philosopher....Shafer brings this forgotten man to life.
--The Wall Street Journal
Brings to life the man Kingsley with all his flaws, contradictions and genius for success, placing him in the context of the turbulent times known as the 'Age of Revolution' that intermittently convulsed both sides of the Atlantic.
--Florida Times-Union
The first detailed study of Zephaniah Kingsley, a controversial individual who amassed a fortune in the Atlantic slave trade yet emancipated many of the slaves he owned.
--Forum Magazine
Schafer weaves the tale of Kingsley’s life in painstaking detail based on thorough knowledge of primary and secondary sources.
--Going Public: The Dirt on Public Archaeology
A major contribution not only to Florida history, but also to the history of the Atlantic World.
--Florida Times-Union
This extensively researched book captures [Zephaniah Kingsley Jr.’s] life and times very effectively…an excellent biography.
--Ausmarine
Illustrates just how complex, interconnected and surprising the eighteenth-century Atlantic world could be for the men and women who circulated around it and helped shape it. . . . Schafer brings [Kingsley] to life in this richly textured and well-written biography.
--Slavery and Abolition
A deeply researched biography of a truly exceptional but complex man whose life both reflected and helped to redefine the changing Atlantic worlds that he occupied.
--The Historian