On Nov. 28, 1858, a ship called the Wanderer slipped silently into a coastal channel and unloaded its cargo of over 400 African slaves onto Jekyll Island, Georgia, thirty eight years after the African slave trade had been made illegal. It was the last ship ever to bring a cargo of African slaves to American soil. Built in 1856, the Wanderer began life as a luxury racing yacht, flying the pennant of the New York Yacht Club and cited as the successor to the famous yacht America . But within a year of its creation, the Wanderer was secretly converted into a slave ship, and, with the New York Yacht Club pennant still flying above as a diversion, sailed off to Africa. The Wanderer's mission was meant to be more than a slaving venture, however. It was designed by its radical conspirators to defy the federal government and speed the nation's descent into civil war. The New York Times first reported the story as a hoax; however, as groups of Africans began to appear in the small towns surrounding Savannah, the story of the Wanderer began to leak out; igniting a fire of protest and debate that made headlines throughout the nation and across the Atlantic. As the story shifts between Savannah, Jekyll Island, the Congo River, London, and New York City, the Wanderer's tale is played out in heated Southern courtrooms, the offices of the New York Times, The White House, the slave markets of Africa and some of the most charming homes Southern royalty had to offer. In a gripping account of the high seas and the high life in New York and Savannah, Erik Calonius brings to light one of the most important and little remembered stories of the Civil War period. Adult/High School—Calonius tells with gripping detail the history of the black-market slave trade that persisted after the United States made the business illegal in 1808. The author focuses on the Wanderer , a speedy pleasure yacht owned by a sugar tycoon. In 1858, a trio of pro-slavery radicals calling themselves "the fire-eaters" transformed it into a smuggling boat and used the vessel to carry 400 captured slaves from Africa to the sales block at Jekyll Island, GA. The federal government captured the fire-eaters, uncovering a plot led by New York businessmen and Southern operatives not only to continue the slave trade, but also to split apart the country. The book follows the outcry from Northern media sources like the New York Times , the dramatic court trial, and the ironic ending when the federal government transformed the Wanderer into a gunboat for the Union during the Civil War. Photos of the key players and plans of the ship are included. Written in a fast-paced style more reminiscent of thrillers than history books, the highly accessible text digs deep into the motivations for the Civil War and illuminates some of the darkest corners of our nation's past.— Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Former Wall Street Journal reporter Calonius chronicles the illegal enterprise of slave trading, 38 years after it was outlawed, onboard a former luxury yacht, the Wan derer. Calonius illustrates the pre-Civil War climate of regional tension between the North and the South on the issue of slavery. Despite the tension, there was a substantial Northern element of slave traders centered in New York in 1858, when the temptations of the globalized economy prompted Southern gentlemen owners of a yacht anchored at the New York Yacht Club to sail down the coast to Savannah off to the Caribbean, where they secured provisions for a slave-trading trip to Africa. The ship returned with more than 400 illegal slaves. The conspiracy was protected by Fire Eaters, who wanted to expand slave territory and prompt the breakup of the Union. Calonius brings to life this extraordinary story from the luxurious yacht-club salons to Southern courtrooms and the Congo, in this account that reveals the complicated legacy of slavery that has yet to be sorted out in contemporary America. Vernon Ford Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Rich in atmosphere, sprung with surprises, The Wanderer is my favorite kind of history: a voyage into the turbid waters of a past we thought we knew, a past we scarcely could have imagined." --Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder "A compelling and heartrending record of a journey that helped push the nation to the brink of the Civil War."-- The Washington Times "Calonius' book stands out as a history. This is a beautifully written book full of imagery that fills the reader's mind with those images, of historical characters that have been fully breathed to life. In sum, "The Wanderer" is a highly recommended and fascinating read."-- Touch the Elbow "Historical reporting at its best."-- The Tuscon Citizen ERIK CALONIUS is a former reporter, editor and London-based foreign corr