James Walvin is Professor of History Emeritus at University of York. He is the author or editor of thirty books. This includes Black Presence: A Documentary History of the Negro in England (1971), Black and White: The Negro and English Society, the winner of the 1975 Martin Luther King Memorial Prize and was described by the New York Times as one of the ` "Notable Books of the Year."
Other books by James Walvin includes Beside the Seaside: Social History of the Popular Seaside Holiday (1978), Slavery and the Slave Trade (1983), Black Personalities in the Era of the Slave Trade (1983), English Urban Life (1984), England, Slaves and Freedom, 1776-1838 (1986) Football and the Decline of Britain (1986), Victorian Values (1987), Black Ivory: a History of British Slavery (1994), Questioning Slavery (1996) The Quakers: Money and Morals (1997), Fruits of Empire. Exotic Produce and British Taste, 1660-1800 (1996) and a biography of Olaudah Equiano entitled An African's Life. The Life and Times of Olaudah Equiano (1998).
Walvin’s pioneering history of football is still in print thirty years after its first publication. But most of his work has been on the history of slavery and the slave trade. In 2007 he was curator for the Parliamentary Exhibition on the Abolition of the Slave Trade and was advisor to the Equiano Exhibition held in the Birmingham Art Gallery.
Recent books by James Walvin include Making the Black Atlantic: Britain and the African Diaspora (2000), Britain's Slave Empire (2000), The People's Game. The History of Football Revisited (2000) and The Only Game. Football in Our Times (2001), English Urban Life: 1776-1851 (2006), The Trader, the Owner, the Slave: Parallel Lives in the Age of Slavery (2007) and a Short History of Slavery (2007).
James Walvin's most recent book, Slavery to Freedom, is published by Pitkin. This book, ideal for use in schools, and includes chapters on Ancient Slavery, Slavery and Africa, Opening the Atlantic, Slave Ships, Sugar and Slavery, Plantations, Resistance, Revolt and Rebellion, Slave Communities, The Abolitionists, Freeing Britain's Slaves and Modern Slavery. There is also information on permanent and special exhibitions on slavery.
Slavery to Freedom also features information on John Hawkins, William Wilberforce, Granville Sharp, Josiah Wedgwood, Mary Prince, Thomas Clarkson, Olaudah Equiano, Alexander Falconbridge, Toussaint L'Ouverture, and Edward Long.