"More Is Learnt of Mankind Here in a Month Than Can Be in a Year in Any Other Part of the World"

"With 15,000 black inhabitants, London had the greatest urban black population in the empire. Some had recently arrived from Africa, some were colonial slaves like Scipio and others were Londoners born and bred. Some were desperately poor, but others met at parties, balls and taverns. Most worrying for colonial slave owners was the fact that the 'market value' of house slaves dropped by about half once they had been to England. (They were spoiled, it was felt, by London’s easy ways.) As Robert ran errands for his master, he enjoyed a greater freedom than ever before. For the first time, he also received money for his services: tips for dropping off a letter or for serving guests at his master’s house. 'Money does him no good,' Henry Laurens moaned, rightly fearing that he was losing control."

In The New York Times, Andrea Wulf reviews Julie Flavell's When London Was Capital of America.