{"id":112139,"date":"2025-10-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/index.php\/product\/the-big-payback\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:46:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:46:25","slug":"the-big-payback","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780571380015","title":{"rendered":"The Big Payback"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>&#8216;Both timely and vital . . . There has never been greater need for a thoughtful discussion on race. This study of the case for reparations, which binds the past and present together so cleverly, is an important contribution.&#8217; Diane Abbott, <i>Guardian<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>At the abolition of the slave trade two centuries ago, the British government paid huge amounts of compensation to slave-owners. Only in 2015 did British taxpayers stop paying off this debt.<\/p>\n<p>How is it that slave-owners were paid compensation from our taxes, yet the enslaved and their families were not? Why should the descendants of former slaveowners still benefit from inherited wealth while the successors of the victims of slavery receive nothing, and may have even paid towards the debt of compensation through their taxes?<\/p>\n<p>Beginning with these simple but startling questions, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder explore the burning issue of how best can we resolve the inequality resulting from 400 years of the enslavement of African people and the ongoing racism still suffered by millions across the world.<\/p>\n<p>Talking to reparation experts, economists, politicians, and anti-racism campaigners, including Bell Rebeiro-Addy, Robert Beckford, Kenneth Mohammed and Kehinde Andrews, they investigate how reparations can work, and how we can help to make them happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the abolition of the slave trade two centuries ago, the British government paid huge amounts of compensation to slave-owners. Only in 2015 did British taxpayers stop paying off this debt. How is it that slave-owners were paid compensation from our taxes, yet the enslaved and their families were not? Why should the descendants of former slaveowners still benefit from inherited wealth while the successors of the victims of slavery receive nothing, and may have even paid towards the debt of compensation through their taxes? Beginning with these simple but startling questions, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder explore the burning issue of how best can we resolve the inequality resulting from 400 years of the enslavement of African people and the ongoing racism still suffered by millions across the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[142],"product_tag":[2736],"class_list":["post-112139","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-general-non-fiction","product_tag-slavery-abolition-of-slavery","pa_book_author-henry-lenny","pa_cover-hardback","pa_dewey-342-087-edition23","pa_imprint-faber-faber","pa_language-english","pa_pages-8436","pa_publisher-faber-faber","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","onbackorder","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Big Payback<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&#039;Both timely and vital . . . There has never been greater need for a thoughtful discussion on race. This study of the case for reparations, which binds the past and present together so cleverly, is an important contribution.&#039; Diane Abbott, GuardianAt the abolition of the slave trade two centuries ago, the British government paid huge amounts of compensation to slave-owners. Only in 2015 did British taxpayers stop paying off this debt.How is it that slave-owners were paid compensation from our taxes, yet the enslaved and their families were not? Why should the descendants of former slaveowners still benefit from inherited wealth while the successors of the victims of slavery receive nothing, and may have even paid towards the debt of compensation through their taxes?Beginning with these simple but startling questions, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder explore the burning issue of how best can we resolve the inequality resulting from 400 years of the enslavement of African people and the ongoing racism still suffered by millions across the world.Talking to reparation experts, economists, politicians, and anti-racism campaigners, including Bell Rebeiro-Addy, Robert Beckford, Kenneth Mohammed and Kehinde Andrews, they investigate how reparations can work, and how we can help to make them happen.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Big Payback\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#039;Both timely and vital . . . There has never been greater need for a thoughtful discussion on race. This study of the case for reparations, which binds the past and present together so cleverly, is an important contribution.&#039; Diane Abbott, GuardianAt the abolition of the slave trade two centuries ago, the British government paid huge amounts of compensation to slave-owners. Only in 2015 did British taxpayers stop paying off this debt.How is it that slave-owners were paid compensation from our taxes, yet the enslaved and their families were not? Why should the descendants of former slaveowners still benefit from inherited wealth while the successors of the victims of slavery receive nothing, and may have even paid towards the debt of compensation through their taxes?Beginning with these simple but startling questions, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder explore the burning issue of how best can we resolve the inequality resulting from 400 years of the enslavement of African people and the ongoing racism still suffered by millions across the world.Talking to reparation experts, economists, politicians, and anti-racism campaigners, including Bell Rebeiro-Addy, Robert Beckford, Kenneth Mohammed and Kehinde Andrews, they investigate how reparations can work, and how we can help to make them happen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780571380015\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Archway Bookshop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArchwayBookshop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T14:46:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/cropped-logo_512-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Archwaybookshop\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780571380015\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780571380015\/\",\"name\":\"The Big Payback\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-09T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T14:46:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"'Both timely and vital . . . 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Why should the descendants of former slaveowners still benefit from inherited wealth while the successors of the victims of slavery receive nothing, and may have even paid towards the debt of compensation through their taxes?Beginning with these simple but startling questions, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder explore the burning issue of how best can we resolve the inequality resulting from 400 years of the enslavement of African people and the ongoing racism still suffered by millions across the world.Talking to reparation experts, economists, politicians, and anti-racism campaigners, including Bell Rebeiro-Addy, Robert Beckford, Kenneth Mohammed and Kehinde Andrews, they investigate how reparations can work, and how we can help to make them happen.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780571380015\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780571380015\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780571380015\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Buy Books\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/index.php\/buy-books\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"General Non-fiction\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/index.php\/product-category\/general-non-fiction\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"The Big Payback\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Archway Bookshop\",\"description\":\"Axminster&#039;s Beautiful Bookshop\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Archway Bookshop\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/cropped-cropped-logo_512-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/cropped-cropped-logo_512-1.png\",\"width\":454,\"height\":368,\"caption\":\"Archway Bookshop\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.archwaybookshop.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArchwayBookshop\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Archwaybookshop\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/archwaybookshop\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Big Payback","description":"'Both timely and vital . . . 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