Slavery

This brief introduction surveys American slavery, one of the most consequential and contested subjects in the nation's past. Peter J. Parish approaches it through political, economic and social lenses, weighing how each shaped the institution.

At the heart of the book is a central contradiction. Enslaved people were legally treated as property, yet the daily running of the system kept revealing that their humanity could not be erased. Parish traces how the slave system took shape in the American South and examines the disputes among historians over whether slavery was economically profitable. He also asks what everyday existence was actually like for those held in bondage.

Written as an accessible starting point, the book also guides readers toward the wider body of writing on American slavery.