Lay was born in 1682 in Essex, England. His philosophies, employments, and places of residence—spanning England, Barbados, Philadelphia, and the open seas—were markedly diverse over the course of his life. He worked as a shepherd, glove maker, sailor, and bookseller. His worldview was an astonishing combination of Quakerism, vegetarianism, animal rights, opposition to the death penalty, and abolitionism. (Amazon.com)

This was a solid and fairly interesting biography of an early abolitionist. It was also pretty short (primarily because of a lack of documentary evidence, I think) and while I think there are lots of areas that Rediker expands on that are interesting, the one that drew me to this book in the first place (disability) is left pretty uncommented on--which raises some questions about his claim that this is related to disability studies, especially given that the comments he DOES make are along the lines of "his disability never held him back!" which I guess could count more broadly but I do prefer more critical disability studies and am more interested in disability more generally during the period, including on ships (a dangerous workplace generally, so you see a lot of folks missing limbs etc.,) and things of that nature.

It was still an interesting book, and can be useful for disrupting narratives around enslavement and abolition in the colonial period. It was just limited by the documentary record and the avenues that Rediker chose to focus on, and I think could have been expanded in a couple of ways that would have let us see the richness of Lay's world--which, on the other hand, the book is pretty short, less than 200 pages before notes. So, useful, just not my fave kind of history. ( )

Just finished this worthy biography of an extraordinary prophet. Like many prophets, Lay was a difficult person who'd probably be diagnosed with a personality disorder today. Yet he disregarded the social handicap of his short stature and extraordinary ways to challenge Quaker leaders who owned slaves and their enablers while showing empathy for human suffering. Lay led a lifestyle of non-violence, simplicity, vegetarianism and egalitarianism. Rediker's biography is thorough, making sympathetic use of available sources to tell Benjamin's story while being academically credible. This window onto the early eighteenth century was welcome.
(Boston: Beacon Press, 2017)

Biography of one of the first slavery abolitionists.

Working class, only four feet tall, Benjamin Lay was a key figure in the early abolitionist movement in America in the 1730s and 1740s. This was not a topic I knew anything about (I think George I and II, Queen Charlotte, and Benjamin Franklin were the only names I recognised and the monarchs only got one mention) but the author writes clearly, if a little ploddingly at times. I was glad the author took Lay's religion seriously, but would have liked more quotes from Lay's own writings. ( )

I definitely enjoyed learning about Benjamin Lay, a man who deserves to have been a more prominent figure in our stories of American history. In that respect, the book was fascinating. However, I was frustrated with the frequency of the repetition of facts multiple times. It felt as though the author was concerned with the length of the book, which is too bad, because the subject was so interesting. ( )