Reviews
'Drax of Drax Hall is not just a look into the dark sources of one family’s fortune; it is an indictment of a nation’s refusal to reckon with its past. Lashmar’s book is a necessary, damning reminder that the ghosts of empire are not distant – they are living, breathing and, in some cases, still collecting rent.' -- <i>The Observer</i> 'Lashmar eloquently reminds us that history is never truly past. In this deeply-researched family history, we learn that the Draxes, an English family of wealth and privilege, were not only intimately tied to the origins of the Atlantic slave trade, but have lived unapologetically from its proceeds ever since. For anyone interested in a riveting account of history’s unfinished business, this book is a must-read' -- Jon Lee Anderson, journalist, <i>The New Yorker</i> 'An important and timely book, in which Paul Lashmar uses the story of the Drax family’s history as enslavers in Barbados as a microcosm of Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. What’s so striking is the extent to which the current day wealth of the Drax family can be linked to their ancestors’ enslavement of Africans beginning in 1627' -- Laura Trevelyan, journalist and author of <i>A Very British Family: The Trevelyans and Their World</i> 'A family story straight out of Game of Thrones - five centuries of exploitation, greed and horrific cruelty, and no regrets whatsoever. Old-school investigative reporting married with a fearless historian's eye for the truth produces this - shocking, fascinating, enraging. A brilliant book that anyone still trying to defend Britain's colonial history in the Caribbean will choke on' -- Alex Renton, author of <i>Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family’s Story of Slavery</i> 'A timely retelling of the story of how one Englishman led the introduction of sugar and racial slavery to the Caribbean, as well as an eye-opening exploration of how the vast resulting profits were consolidated and enjoyed by generations of his descendants' -- Matthew Parker, author of <i>The Sugar Barons: Family, Corruption, Empire and War</i> 'An eye-opening book no one should ignore. Revelatory about how the wealth and status of 18 generations of one family benefited from barbaric roots in chattel slavery, Drax of Drax Hall illustrates how the past continues to inform the present, and why the call for reparatory justice resonates more loudly now than ever before (particularly for those – like me – with bloodlines directly linked to the island of Barbados as well as to the west coast of Africa, from where many were trafficked). Read, and be informed!' -- Margaret Busby, author of <i>New Daughters of Africa</i> 'The past is still with us. We must know and tell the truth about it if we are to flourish in the present and the future. Only then can the better angels of our nature fully emerge. Paul Lashmar’s book is a powerful exercise in the truth telling that is so necessary' -- Alan Smith, First Church Estates Commissioner, The Church Commissioners for England
Author Information
Paul Lashmar is Reader in Journalism at City St George's, University of London. He has taken an interest in the history of slavery since he developed a Channel 4 series on Britain's slave trade in 1999. He has been an investigative journalist in television and print, and on the staff of The Observer, Granada Television's World in Action current affairs series and The Independent. He is the author, co-author or co-editor of six books. He lives in Dorset. David Adetayo Olusoga OBE is a British-Nigerian historian, writer, broadcaster and BAFTA-winning film-maker.
