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[[File:John R. Spears - "The American Slave Trade" - illustration by Walter Appleton Clark - 1900.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration by Walter Appleton Clark captioned "A wild dash for freedom was made." for ''The American Slave Trade'' by John R. Spears, C. Scribner's Sons, 1900<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-f4cf-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 | title= (still image) A wild dash for life was made., (1901) |author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=June 13, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>]]
The obvious biases aside, W. E. Du Bois commented that "Its tone is high and the general impression given is a true one". On the other hand, he noted that "There is a dangerous blending of history and fiction in the book that makes the reader not always certain of his ground".<ref>{{cite journal
The obvious biases aside, the two works are complementary in the sense that Spears's book focused on the American slave trade, as indicated by the title, while ''Black Cargoes'' had a broader scope, encompassing the Americas as a whole. It devoted just two chapters to the American trade per se. In areas of overlap, For example, Spears included a chapter on "Free-Nigro colonies [in Africa] and the slave-trade"; i.e.: in Liberia and Sierra Leone, not discussed in ''Black Cargoes''. Both books are narrative, but Spears's book often included longer stories and quotations. It also included original illustrations by [[Walter Appleton Clark]], which depicted action sequences. For example, the figure captioned, "A wild dash for life was made." depicts the treacherous slaughter of villagers who the slavers had invited on board the ship, ''Duke of York'', for talk and drink. On a prearranged signal, the slavers suddenly took up arms against them. The villagers that fled in a wild dash for life were captured by men from a rival village with whom the captain had made a secret pact. Spears devoted several pages to the gripping story, which was not included in ''Black Cargoes''.<ref>Spears 1900, pp. 58{{ndash}}62 and illustration facing pg 64.</ref>▼
|first1=W. E. B. |last1=Du Bois
|date=September 1901
|title=Reviews: The American Slave Trade. An Account of its Origin Growth and Suppression. By John R. Spears. Illustrated by Walter Appleton Clark. Pp. xvi and 232. Price. $2.50. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1900
|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000271620101800214
|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
|volume=18
|issue=2
|pages=156{{ndash}}157
|access-date=22 June 2024}}</ref>
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Mannix and Cowley include many historical illustrations, but most of these have a loose connection to the text.
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