Mutiny on the Rising Sun: A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate (NYU Press, 2021), written by Boston College graduate Jared Ross Hardesty, recounts the deadly 1743 mutiny aboard the Rising Sun, a schooner involved in smuggling. After completing a routine smuggling voyage where the crew sold enslaved Africans in exchange for chocolate, sugar, and coffee in the Dutch colony of Suriname, three sailors sneaked below deck, murdered four people, and seized control of the vessel. In Mutiny on the Rising Sun, Hardesty shows how illegal trade created demand for exotic products like chocolate, and illustrates the centrality of smuggling and slavery in early American society. He is also the author of Unfreedom: Slavery and Dependence in 18th Century Boston and Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England. Hardesty earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from Boston College and is an associate professor of history at Western Washington University. Learn more in this Q&A with WWU.