Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves

by Ira Berlin

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674010612
• ISBN13: 9780674010611
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Lively, well-written overview of US slavery

I have not yet read Berlin's other book, so I can not compare the two, as some reviewers have done. I thought that the book was quite good. It has a rather peculiar point of view, which was very helpful to me, although it might be hard to follow for someone not familiar with general American history. What Berlin basically does is to give an intense look at how slavery changed over time. His approach is to go region by region, generation by generation. His focus is almost entirely on the slaves; he says little or nothing about the larger context (which is why his format might be hard to follow for those not familiar with the larger history.) This approach tends to highlight how slavery changed over time, and how it differed between the regions. He is particularly good in his description of the free black and creole communities which came to exist in different times and places. I found, oddly enough, that he gave me a huge insight. We tend to see the Revolution as being profoundly hypocritical on slavery. How could the Founding Fathers have proclaimed the equality of all, yet not abolished slavery? Berlin showed me part of the answer. The Founders DID abolish slavery, in the North. It is easy to forget that slavery existed in the North, prior to the Revolution, and that abolishing it there was no small thing.