Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Heiresses:
You don’t even need to be there to be a terrible person.
Quick synopsis:
A look at the women who inherited Caribbean slaves.
Fact for Non-History People:
British enslavers were compensated over 20 million pounds when slavery was abolished.
Fact for History Nerds:
The debt I just mentioned wasn’t paid off until 2015.
My Take on Heiresses:
Feminism is about the sexes being treated equally. Miranda Kaufmann’s Heiresses is extremely feminist because she meticulously proves that women can be just as terrible as men when it comes to the slavery question. Buckle up.
Heiresses looks at nine different women who were, well, heiresses. Specifically, they inherited wealth which was often tied directly to the number of slaves on their Caribbean holdings.
If I may go almost entirely off topic for a tangent. My wife and I love the real estate shows like House Hunters. One of our favorite spinoffs is, you guessed it, Caribbean Life. (Note: Bahamas Life is just okay. No, I can’t explain why.) Anyway, often you will see the house hunters take in the culture of the island and a favorite stop is remains of sugar mills. Inevitably, the entire scene is a shot of the mill and one of the parents looking at a kid and saying, “They made sugar there.” End scene. I realize there is a time and place for this, but sugar mills were a slight step above hell on earth. It is similar to showing a kid an old electric chair and saying, “They had really big electric bills in this room, anyway, let’s go look at a condo!” Rant complete.
While I just indulged my historical rage at your expense, Kaufmann does not do that in this book! In fact, she does what I loved in another exceptional book The Zorg by Siddharth Kara. Kaufmann lets your mind wander from the horror and lulls you into the feeling that you are just reading a historical Pride and Prejudice. (Note: No, I did not pick that book at random. There is a direct connection.) You get this strange disassociation from slavery for a few pages and then wham! Kaufmann lists out the names of the slaves the women inherited and reminds you that Kaufmann, who is clearly a fantastic researcher, could find nothing about these people other than this one document. They barely existed to the people who owned them. Each of the nine women are very different, but the common elements are 1. They barely lived in the Caribbean for any length of time (if at all) and 2. Showed zero compassion for the lives with few exceptions and mostly only when emancipation made it beneficial for all involved.
It is all so strange to look at these people and realize that they were not all sociopaths. At least, not completely. In fact, there is a particular couple who were absolutely devoted to each other in a real, tangible way. However, they could not possibly care less about the fact that they owned people and took away their free will. You read about these people being so generous with each other and their friends while having one of the worst blind spots in human history. The husband was at least more consistent as he went to Australia and proceeded to attempt to exterminate the indigenous people there. (See: Appin massacre)
I love books that unearth a new perspective, and this book is one of them. The research is impeccable, and just as importantly, it is well-written in a way that any audience can appreciate. Admittedly, you aren’t going to feel good at the end of it, but you will be much smarter and better for it.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Pegasus Books.)
Verdict:
Eye-opening and entertaining. Buy it here!
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