Slavery

This encyclopedic guide to the subject of slavery highlights its history from Mesopotamia through the Atlantic slave trade and into the present day, focusing on such issues as the lives of slaves (“Working on sugar plantations in the West Indies or Brazil was probably the hardest life an enslaved person could face”), movements that questioned slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation. A section entitled “Aftermath of Slavery” includes information about the lives of former slaves, the Reconstruction period in the U.S., civil rights struggles and how slavery is remembered and depicted today. Photographs, time lines, quotations from historical figures and paintings create a diverse panorama of information that ends with a discussion of the current slave trade and the reminder that “20 million people continue to be enslaved worldwide.” As thorough as it is socially pertinent. Ages 12–up. (June)