Eric Williams is a big deal...

...and not just because he's got on those great shades (image courtesy of Wikipedia, where else?)

While we read only a tiny snippet of Eric Williams's writing for this week's upcoming class, know that Williams's work has had a profound impact on the history of slavery in general.

His most important book Capitalism and Slavery (1944) explored with the driving forces of abolitionism and expands on the argument that you read this week. Moreover, the argument he put forward in that book has established a number of central questions in the history of abolitionism that shape many of the central debates in the field.

Here are a few brief summaries/reviews of the book and its argument:

• Dexnell Gervais Peters, 2007 essay
• Seymour Drescher, "ERIC WILLIAMS: BRITISH CAPITALISM AND BRITISH SLAVERY"

Oh, and Williams went on to serve as the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, proving that it is possible to do something with a history degree.