For example, Rediker mentions American President Martin Van Buren in the Amistad Rebellion only after the victory in which a Connecticut circuit court ruled in favor of the African captives. Perhaps the author could discuss in more depth the political implications of the Amistad Rebellion in American politics. What we read in the book is “Martin Van Buren supported the Spanish crown”. Perhaps readers would benefit from a more in-depth discussion of how the political elite in the United States responded to the rebellion and the court cases that soon followed. While this is an unfortunate flaw of the book, it does not necessarily detract from the book's overall argument, which is that the Amistad Rebellion dramatically changed the institution of