A World Transformed: Slavery in the Americas and the Origins of Global Power

Historian Walvin (Freedom: The Overthrow of the Slave Empires) asserts in this meticulous and eye-opening study that slavery was not just “fundamental to the way the West emerged,” but also “created tentacles of economic activity” that affected far-flung regions not usually associated with the institution. Expertly sifting through archival records, Walvin documents how people, commodities, and ideas crossed oceans and continents, affecting societies as distant from the American South as India and Japan. He examines the emergence of the slave trade, its transatlantic and domestic variants, the methods by which slaveholders attempted to squeeze as much labor as possible from their captive workforce, and the efforts by enslaved people to assert their humanity and gain partial or total freedom. Walvin is particularly eloquent and insightful in describing how slavery underwrote both Western prosperity and the material symbols thereof, facilitating trade in polished mahogany furniture, Chinese porcelain, and other luxury goods. He also sheds valuable light on the links between slavery and modern-day environmental degradation and racial conflict. This richly detailed yet approachable history makes clear just how far and wide the grip of slavery reached. (May)