Author(s): Marcus Rediker

Biography | United Kingdom

Renowned historian Marcus Rediker chronicles the transatlantic life and times of a singular man-Benjamin Lay (1682-1759)-a Quaker dwarf who demanded the total, unconditional emancipation of all enslaved Africans around the world. Mocked by his contemporaries, Lay was a visionary who practiced the ideals of democracy and equality an astonishing three hundred years ago. Insisting that human bondage violated the principles of Christianity, Lay often performed colorful guerrilla theater to shame slave masters. His revolutionary life embodied the proclamation "no justice, no peace." Rediker not only captures Lay's legacy with passion and historical rigor; he has already helped to change his historical standing with this biography. Since the publication of The Fearless Benjamin Lay, the Abington Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and the North London Quaker Meeting, two of the communities that disowned Lay in the eighteenth century, have now publicly embraced his spirit, ideals, and memory. Book jacket.