The Fearless Benjamin Lay
Marcus Rediker
Beacon Press
<b>The little-known story of an eighteenth-century Quaker dwarf who fiercely attacked slavery and imagined a new, more humane way of life</b><br>In <i>The Fearless Benjamin Lay</i>, renowned historian Marcus Rediker chronicles the transatlantic life and times of a singular man&#8212;a Quaker dwarf who demanded the total, unconditional emancipation of all enslaved Africans around the world. Mocked and scorned by his contemporaries, Lay was unflinching in his opposition to slavery, often performing colorful guerrilla theater to shame slave masters, insisting that human bondage violated the fundamental principles of Christianity. He drew on his ideals to create a revolutionary way of life, one that embodied the proclamation "no justice, no peace."<br>Lay was born in 1682 in Essex, England. His philosophies, employments, and places of residence&#8212;spanning England, Barbados, Philadelphia, and the open seas&#8212;were markedly diverse over the course of his life. He worked as a...