Sometimes the slightest crack in an otherwise solid foundation can trigger the wholesale collapse of an edifice. Such was the case with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, a practice that began in the 16^th century but came to an abrupt end 300 years later. As Siddharth Kara demonstrates in The Zorg, his captivating and often stomach-churning account of a slave ship’s tragic misadventures on the high seas, a single event can give rise to titanic social change.