The Complete History Of - American Slavery - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0737704241 ISBN 13: 9780737704242

Publisher: Greenhaven Press, 2000

Synopsis

Slavery began in America in the seventeenth century when the first African slaves were brought to Virginia. The contributors to this anthology track the course of American slavery from its origins in colonial America to the first civil rights laws passed after the Civil War. Articles focus on such topics as what life was like for the slaves, including their work, their families, slave revolts, and abolitionist movements. Also included are a geographical gazeteer of important places in the history of slavery, a glossary, chronology, an appendix of prominent people, bibliographies, and an extensive index.

About this title

From Booklist

Reviewed with other titles in the Complete History Of . . . series.

Gr. 6-12. For an in-depth introduction to the subject as much as for reference and research, each of these large, detailed, accessible, well-designed Complete History Of anthologies includes more than 90 entries by well-known people in the field who describe what happened and look critically at how events continue to be interpreted. The selections are organized into chapters, and there are short introductions on the contents pages, full introductions with each entry, and extensive bibliographies. The text, in clear type, two columns per page, is broken up with lots of subheads and occasional black-and-white photographs. American Slavery begins with the Atlantic slave trade and ends with the Civil War, with entries by Frederick Douglass, Nat Turner, Mary Chestnut, and many others. It is organized into 16 chapters on a number of topics, including a fascinating discussion of whether the Underground Railroad actually existed. There's no mention of the current reparations debate. Ancient Greece is organized first chronologically, then by topic--law and justice, art, literature, etc. The Death Penalty is like an expanded version of an Opposing Viewpoints title, with debate about issues, landmark cases, and court decisions. Holocaust is an excellent collection of seminal accounts and commentaries by some of the leading writers in the field. Of course, there's no "complete history" of anything, but especially for smaller collections, these volumes provide both the big picture and a detailed focus on what's important. No further titles in this series are planned at this time. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From School Library Journal

Grade 9-Up These volumes in the audaciously titled The Complete History of series succeed in delivering large and diverse selections of material on controversial topics. Each one is comprised of numerous primary- and secondary-source articles that represent many points of view in a loosely chronological arrangement. Insightful general introductions preface each book as well as each chapter. Editorial comment precedes each article, laying a helpful contextual framework for the disparate entries. High-quality, black-and-white charts, maps, and photographs powerfully underscore the texts. Sensitive issues are included: Holocaust raises the question of Christian culpability; Slavery cautions that pejorative terminology appears frequently in excerpted historical documents; and Death Penalty includes debate on racial discrimination. While there are a few lapses, e.g., neither Holocaust nor Slavery includes mention of current reparations movements, they do not undermine the integrity of these volumes. Each book concludes with relevant appendixes, a chronology, capsule biographies of prominent people, and research links. A general index and a somewhat redundant major subject list provide uneven help. Examining discrete topics like gas chamber, middle passage, or electrocution in the individual titles will result in much page flipping for multiple entries. Nevertheless, persevering researchers will be well served by these textbook-sized, one-stop reference sources. Mary Ann Carcich, Mattituck-Laurel Public Library, Mattituck, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenhaven Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0737704241
• ISBN 13: 9780737704242
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 642
• Editor: Miller James