Five Thousand Years of Slavery

December 15, 2010

Sandwiched between telling lines from the epic of Gilgamesh ("...the warrior's daughter, the young man's bride, / he uses her, no one dares to oppose him") and the exposure of a migrant worker–trafficking ring in Florida in the mid-1990s, this survey methodically presents both a history of the slave trade and what involuntary servitude was and is like in a broad range of times and climes. Though occasionally guilty of overgeneralizing, the authors weave their narrative around contemporary accounts and documented incidents, supplemented by period images or photos and frequent sidebar essays. Also, though their accounts of slavery in North America and the abolition movement in Britain are more detailed than the other chapters, the practice's past and present in Africa, Asia and the Pacific—including the modern "recruitment" of child soldiers and conditions in the Chinese laogai (forced labor camps)—do come in for broad overviews. For timeliness, international focus and, particularly, accuracy, this leaves Richard Watkins' Slavery: Bondage Throughout History (2001) in the dust as a first look at a terrible topic. (timeline, index; notes and sources on an associated website) (Nonfiction. 11-14)

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from March 1, 2011

Gr 6-9-This well-researched global survey introduces readers to slavery practices, customs, suffering, uprisings, and revolts as well as antislavery efforts from ancient Greece and Rome to today's world. Organized into 12 chapters, the narrative presents the historical, economic, and cultural contexts of slavery in different regions of the world. Personal accounts are woven into the text. Greatest emphasis is placed on the transatlantic slave trade, which brought almost 12 million Africans to the Americas, eventually sparking British and American abolitionist protests, the American Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement. The authors promote global awareness and issue a call to action. Descriptions of Chinese mui-tsai, the legal sale of daughters into slavery, and the activist martyrdom in 1995 of 12-year-old Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani child laborer, are heartrending. To eradicate slavery today, the authors recommend proactive strategies like buying labeled "slave-free products," advocating for enforcement of antislavery laws, and learning more from antislavery organizations and websites. Informative documentary photos and factually rich sidebars enhance the text. A timeline lists pivotal moments from the rise of Sumerian cities to the 2001 Cocoa Protocol denouncing child labor on African cocoa plantations. This groundbreaking title brings the disturbing subject into historical and contemporary focus.-Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2011
Grades 10-1 Encyclopedic in scope and minutely detailed, this comprehensive volume takes on the history of slavery across the globe, from the ancient world (including a discussion of the biblical story of Exodus) through Europe in the Middle Ages to the forced labor in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Gulag, right up to the fight to end slavery today. The huge overview may be overwhelming for many teens, but readers will be drawn in by the dramatic biographies and personal testimonies, illustrated with archival photos and paintings, that tell of racism and savage brutality, the roles of war and poverty, and also of incredible courage and resistance. With a detailed profile of Iqbal Masih, an internationally recognized young protestor who was murdered, the last chapterabout child slavery and child soldiers right nowwill particularly grab young activists. Some sources are listed; the brief bibliography refers readers to the authors website for more detailed documentation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)