Harrowing and unique, part history and part creative art. Metcalf's method is to stitch together old narratives, complete with quaint old spellings and syntax, into novels of amazing power. The central section of book is about the transport of slaves from Africa to the Caribbean, and the horror is nearly palpable, and probably impossible to achieve in any other form. The slavery section is sandwiched between two other parts, one about Luddites in England and Scotland and their attacks on the knitting "frames" that were putting thousands out of work, and the final section about the horribly cruel and dangerous whale hunting industry.

Taken as a whole, this book tells an eloquent story documenting the inhumanities of the industrial, or at least post-agrarian, world, using contemporary accounts (journals, diaries, newspaper reports). These stitched-together snippets form a kind of dry poetry which, eventually emerges with a voice both fierce and outraged. Metcalf deserves a much larger audience. ( )