From Newton's rip-roaring adventures on the high seas to his emergence as a pivotal figure in the abolitionist and evangelical movements, this is a life of amazing achievement as well as of Amazing Grace.

John Newton is best known as the author of the hymn Amazing Grace but this brilliant new biography shows how he led one of the most colourful and influential lives of the 18th century. Using a wealth of unpublished material, Jonathan Aitken charts Newton's journey through slave-trading, best-selling authorship, ordination, church leadership, abolitionist campaigning and the spiritual mentoring of William Wilberforce and William Cowper.