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American Slavery, American Freedom
by: Edmund S. Morgan

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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 975.502
EAN: 9780393324945
ISBN: 039332494X
Label: W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: 2003-10
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Studio: W. W. Norton & Company
Sales Rank: 36627

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
"If it is possible to understand the American paradox, the marriage of slavery and freedom, Virginia is surely the place to begin," writes Edmund S. Morgan in American Slavery, American Freedom, a study of the tragic contradiction at the core of America. Morgan finds the key to this central paradox in the people and politics of the state that was both the birthplace of the revolution and the largest slaveholding state in the country. With a new introduction. Winner of the Francis Parkman Prize and the Albert J. Beveridge Award.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Best U.S. History Book I've Ever Read
Among the overexposed idealouges, you have Schweikart, on on the other hand you have Zinn. Sadly, an author like Morgan, who seems to have no agenda other than the truth, gets a little overlooked.

This book reads like a densely written novel. I couldn't put it down.

This book functions like thourough preamble to the U.S. Civil War- it gave me a level of understanding that continues to surprise me.

If you read only one book on American History, let this be the one.

Rating:

- Very Good, but with Some Curious Touches
Overall, this is a very good book. I particularly enjoyed the author's deft use of irony and wry humor. It was very informative to read another discussion of the inconsistency between the Virginians' proclamation of liberty and their heavy reliance on slave labor, and on how this reliance developed. Of course, the basic point is not an original one; even in his "Outline of History", H. G. Wells, in considering the questions of freedom and slavery, comments on the "splendid comedy" of the American story.

I agree with a previous reviewer that the title may mislead a prospective reader. The book does not give a comprehensive discussion of American slavery. Rather, while the author certainly disapproves of slavery, his main interest seems to be in how it tended to release the humbler ... Read More

Rating:

- Excellent
This very well written and researched book is an effort to answer a single interesting question; why were so many of the great Founders slaveholding Virginians? To address this apparent paradox, Morgan investigates the history of colonial Virginia from its founding to the mid-18th century, reconstructing the evolution of the planter caste and their attitudes. Morgan shows that despite the intentions of the founders of the Virginia colony, its economic life rapidly became centered on production of tobacco, a crop requiring intense labor and considerable land. The demands of this form of commercially oriented staple agriculture required forms of coerced labor, initially indentured servants from Britain. Morgan shows very well how these needs interacted with English attitudes towards the poor ... Read More

Rating:

- Great book
I wanted a better understanding of day-to-day life in Colonial Virginia, from the founding of Jamestown forward to 1776. I also wanted a better understanding of the origins of slavery in Virginia. Mr. Morgan brings this information home in staggering detail, yet his writing style makes it an "easy read". The research that must have gone into this book is truly amazing, as reflected by the thorough footnotes and citations. Though I am no expert myself, an amateur history buff at best, I was certainly left with the impression that this is THE definitive book on the history of colonial Virginia. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

Rating:

- No slavery
This was a meticulously researched history of the economic and social conditions that facilitated the establishment of slavery in Virginia. Very well done. But if you are looking for a book about 'American Slavery,' this is not it. I was disappointed. I expected a broader book exploring the early decades of slavery throughout America, as the title suggests. But I reached page 355 here and realized unhappily that the end was approaching and no space had been devoted to slavery. Find the history of slavery elsewhere.

Books : American Slavery, American Freedom