This book was a wonderful challenge that led me down a rabbit hole of several other historical biographies and the need to brush up on history lessons.
For a New Year’s Resolution my friend at courtneygracewrites.com challenged me to finish all the books I had started. Although it took me the entire month of January, seven books later I felt so accomplished to have a clean slate as far as my book list was concerned.
After completing this task I went on to look at my bookshelf to find any books that had been hiding and collecting dust. After perusing the books I hadn't read, I stumbled across a biography of William Wilberforce. In light of the the many events plaguing our country today I found myself wanting to know more about this man who had fought to abolish slavery in England. After an excruciating eighty pages into this biography, my husband noticed my very slow reading pace. I told him I was reading a book that I was determined to finish although clearly written by a historian and not an author. The next day my husband had Amazing Grace delivered to our door via Amazon. It was a very sweet gesture and I was very excited to restart the biography written by Eric Metaxas.
Although Metaxas is a much better writer this book was still a challenging read. I found myself stopping every once in a while to brush up on nuances of Parliament or the French Revolution or even the lineage of the monarchy in England. I even waded through nightmares of the Zong slavery ship which was the catalyst to start the dubious work of passing antislavery bills through Parliament.
I enjoyed the challenge and it spurred me on to read three more books by Metaxas and another book about Hannah More who I was introduced to during my reading of Amazing Grace.
This book isn’t for everyone but I was challenged by it. It is a great read for background into the abolishment of slavery which will help all of us in having deeper understanding of many cultural events of today.
Quick Glean: There is a lot of wading through letters in this book if you want a more concise read check out Eric Metaxas’s book “7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness.” He has a chapter on Wilberforce in that book.