I want to start with saying that I really enjoyed The Two Prices of Calabar, Sparks does an admirable job in creating an overview of the Atlantic Slave Trade on a microhistory level. Sparks is clear about his intentions "I explore the impact of the rise of the Atlantic World on a particular place in time - eighteenth-century Old Calabar." (3) I feel like I understand the politics and mercantile beginnings of Old Calabar, the position of creolized Africans in the Atlantic Slave Trade and the laws that governed England in the eighteenth century with regard to slavery after reading the book.
At the end of the book I must say that I was left feeling a little disappointed because in the Preface of the book Sparks says that he used a "firsthand account of an Atlantic slave experience" (1) but, at the end I was left wondering where are the Robin Johns? The book gave me a lot of information but I felt like the information that I really wanted wasn't there. In thinking back to Martha Ballard and comparing her to the Robin Johns I feel like Sparks could have given me such a better picture in my mind of the Robin Johns, and I can't help but think that this was a missed opportunity. Ullrich was able to concentrate on the information that she was trying to portray in The Midwife's Tale, at the same time she gives the reader an intimate view of the protagonist, whereas Sparks seems to lose his protagonists in the application of history.
While I believe he does give me the lens through which I can see the Atlantic slave trade, I just wish I knew more about the Robin Johns or Robin Robin Johns. I was also interested in the Robin Johns interest and commitment to the church. What a fascinating piece of history to discover their relationship with the Wesley's during their time in England.
As a side note, if these guys didn't have bad luck they would have no luck!!
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