Slavery in the United States [2 volumes] : A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia

A comprehensive, contextual presentation of all aspects - social, political, and economic - of slavery in the United States, from the first colonization through Reconstruction.

The story of slavery in the United States is a painful one.

Too often, students get little more than a cursory look at the horrors of the Middle Passage and an overview of the Civil War.

This encyclopedia is a scholarly, comprehensive presentation of the whole story.

For 250 years, slavery was part of the fabric of American life.

The institution had an enormous economic impact and was central to the wealth of the agrarian South.

It had as great an impact on American culture, cementing racism and other attitudes that echo into the present.

This encyclopedia is an ambitious examination of all the issues surrounding slavery: the origins, the justifications, the controversies, the human drama.

These volumes represent the work of 75 distinguished scholars from around the world.

Ten thematic essays present a thorough examination of slavery and slave culture, including a rare treatment of slavery from the slave's point of view. Three hundred A-Z entries provide instant access to specific topics - people, issues, and events.

Today, slavery seems self-evidently wrong. This encyclopedia provides the student or general reader an in-depth explanation of how the practice evolved and was normalized, then anathematized and abolished.