Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood: The Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823

With thorough, judicious research, Yale history professor da Costa reconstructs ``one of the greatest slave uprisings . . . of the New World,'' which occurred in the British colony of Demerara, now known as Guyana, in 1823. She records the debates in Britain and its outposts over rights and reforms, showing how planters and missionaries differed and how the colony's slaves grew resentful of the pace of change. Missionary John Smith, drawn to Demerara by serendipity, became a convert to the slaves' causes and was blamed for the rebellion; he was sentenced to death, but died in jail. Da Costa suggests, rather, that some 12,000 slaves, stimulated by rumors of freedom and by harassment, linked to one another by family and work loyalties, started the uprising on their own, seizing their plantations. Though only three whites died during the rebellion, hundreds of slaves were killed or wounded and 33 were executed after summary trial. The conflict ultimately influenced the British decision a decade later to abolish slavery in its colonies. Illustrations not seen by PW . (May)