Slavery in the New World: A Reader in Comparative History

In this stimulating collection of “readings” the editors have skillfully juxtaposed articles and portions of books that raise the basic issues in dispute regarding slavery in the New World. All the selected material has a comparative dimension, so the Latin American experience is often returned to and its understanding is informed by the North American and West Indian cases. Although Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico naturally receive more attention than the rest of Latin America, the broad theoretical questions regarding the criteria of historical judgment are of direct interest to every historian. The list of authors whose work is represented is the expectable one. Frank Tannenbaum, Stanley Elkins, and Herbert Klein are placed alongside Sidney Mintz, Marvin Harris, David Davis, and Elsa Goveia. Genovese himself contributes two of the selections in addition to joining his co-editor, a graduate student at Columbia, in preparing introductory statements for each section. Teachers of both Latin American and United States history will want to use this book in some of their classes, and many others will profit from the concise presentation of alternative points of view on a major institution in modem history.