Empire of Necessity – 5/5 Stars Grandin begins his book with a short retelling of the Herman Melville novella “Benito Cereno” about a slave rebellion on slaving vessel in 1799. In the novella, the ship is happened upon by another trade vessel where the captain Delano talks with Benito Cereno, the one surviving former crewmate, now held hostage in order to assure safe passage. Delano, not really seeing the Black crew and imprisoned slaves as capable of such a subterfuge, never really understands he’s being […]