For example, Rediker does not mention U.S. President Martin Van Buren in the Amistad Rebellion until after the victory in which a Connecticut circuit court spoke out in favor of African captives. Perhaps the author could discuss in more detail the political implications of the Amistad Rebellion on American politics. What we read in the book is “Martin Van Buren supported the Spanish crown”. Readers might benefit from a more in-depth discussion of how the United States' political elite responded to the rebellion and the trials that followed soon after. While this is an unfortunate shortcoming of the book, it does not detract from the book's overall argument that the Amistad Rebellion radically changed the institution of