Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves
A long-view history of African American slavery that treats it as both an institution and a lived social world. It reads slavery through family, labor, and power over time.
Work Information
A sweeping reinterpretation of slavery history.
This history book reconsiders slavery not only as an institution but also through family, labor, and power relations. Across a long time span, it clarifies how oppression took shape and changed.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Belknap Press
- Published
- 2003-03-25
- Pages
- 384 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 16.51 x 3.81 x 24.13 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780674010611
- ISBN-10
- 0674010612
- Price
- 7383 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/History/Americas/United States/Civil War/Abolition
Ira Berlin traces the history of African-American slavery in the United States from its beginnings in the seventeenth century to its fiery demise nearly three hundred years later. Most Americans, black and white, have a singular vision of slavery, one fixed in the mid-nineteenth century when most American slaves grew cotton, resided in the deep South, and subscribed to Christianity. Here, however, Berlin offers a dynamic vision, a major reinterpretation in which slaves and their owners continually renegotiated the terms of captivity. Slavery was thus made and remade by successive generations of Africans and African Americans who lived through settlement and adaptation, plantation life, economic transformations, revolution, forced migration, war, and ultimately, emancipation. Berlin's understanding of the processes that continually transformed the lives of slaves makes Generations of Captivity essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of antebellum America. Connecting the "Charter Generation" to the development of Atlantic society in the seventeenth century, the "Plantation Generation" to the reconstruction of colonial society in the eighteenth century, the "Revolutionary Generation" to the Age of Revolutions, and the "Migration Generation" to American expansionism in the nineteenth century, Berlin integrates the history of slavery into the larger story of American life. He demonstrates how enslaved black people, by adapting to changing circumstances, prepared for the moment when they could seize liberty and declare themselves the "Freedom Generation." This epic story, told by a master historian, provides a rich understanding of the experience of African-American slaves, an experience that continues to mobilize American thought and passions today.
Ira Berlin is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Reviews
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Scholarly and fun to read
Well written and comprehensive, but still able to capture the nuances of the many experiences of African American history. Ira Berlin blesses us with his years of experience writing about slavery.
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Five Stars
Interesting and informative.
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Five Stars
Excellent history of slavery practices in this country.
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Great read
Great read. Recommend it for any one interested in the subject of slavery before the Civil War.
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Used book but sold as new
The book was delivered showing signs of wear and fading on the first page. No stars.