Overview

Slavery's expansion across the globe often escapes notice because it operates as an underground criminal enterprise, rather than as a legal institution. In this volume, Elizabeth Swanson and James Brewer Stewart bring together scholars from across disciplines to address and expose the roots of modern-day slavery from a historical perspective as a means of supporting activist efforts to fight it in the present. They trace modern slavery to its many sources, examining how it is sustained and how today's abolitionists might benefit by understanding their predecessors' successes and failures. Using scholarship also intended as activism, the volume's authors analyze how the history of African American enslavement might illuminate or obscure the understanding of slavery today and show how the legacies of earlier forms of slavery have shaped human bondage and social relations in the twenty-first century.

Full Product Details

9781316637364

Table of Contents

Reviews

Advance praise: 'This insightful book helps to destroy the myth that somehow slavery of the past was fundamentally different to slavery today, and that antislavery was peopled with heroes in the past and bureaucrats today. Expansive yet detailed, rich with discovery, this is slavery scholarship at its best.' Kevin Bales, author of Blood and Earth: Modern Slavery, Ecocide, and the Secret to Saving the World Advance praise: 'Starting with the brilliant preface, readers of this volume have much to savor from this superbly written and researched book by top historians. As the diverse and informative essays explain, what differentiates the past from the present is the present illegality of slavery. I recommend this work to a very diverse readership.' Louise Shelley, author of Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective Advance praise: 'Slavery is an ongoing stain and this collection is highly relevant in its effort to read from the past to the present. This provides a conceptual depth and a historiography also ballast for our consideration of the present. Strongly recommended.' Jeremy Black, author of A Brief History of Slavery

Author Information

Elizabeth Swanson is Professor of English at Babson College. She has published extensively in the areas of slavery, human rights, and literature, and has worked to help rebuild the lives of survivors of brothel slavery in India, Nepal, and the US. James Brewer Stewart is the James Wallace Professor of History Emeritus at Macalester College Minnesota. He is the founder and director emeritus of Historians Against Slavery, an international network that advocates for contemporary antislavery and antiracism. He co-edits Louisiana State University's book series Abolition, Antislavery and the Atlantic World, and is the author or editor of thirteen scholarly books relating to the historical problem of slavery.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available