Book excerpt: This volume provides the first survey in English of the Dutch involvement in the Atlantic slave trade and slave system. It covers the period from the origins of the trade and the Dutch conquest of part of Brazil in the early 17th century, to the abolition of slavery in the Dutch West Indies in the later 19th century. Individual chapters focus on the ’investment bubble’ in the Dutch plantation colonies, Dutch participation in the illegal slave trade, and the effects of ameliorisation policies and then emancipation on the slaves of Suriname. Professor Emmer also highlights the particular characteristics of the Dutch West India Company - markedly different from the better-known East India Company - and the low-key nature of the debate on slave emancipation in The Netherlands.