A ground-breaking edited collection charting the rise and fall of forms of unfree labour in the ancient Mediterranean and in the modern Atlantic, employing the methodology of comparative history. The eleven chapters in the book deal with conceptual issues and different approaches to historical comparison, and include specific case-studies ranging from the ancient forms of slavery of classical Greece and of the Roman empire to the modern examples of slavery that characterised the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States. The results demonstrate both how much the modern world has inherited from the ancient in regard to ideology and practice of slavery; and also how many of the issues and problems related to the latter seem to have been fundamentally similar across time and space.

Greek slavery from Homer to the Persian wars -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : slave supply and slave numbers -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : slave employment and legal aspects of slavery -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : the social setting of polis slavery -- The eastern Mediterranean lands from Alexander to Augustus : the Delphic manumissions : slave origins, economic and legal approaches -- The eastern area from Alexander to Augustus : basic differences between pre-Greek and Greek slavery -- Slavery in Hellenistic Egypt : pharaonic tradition and Greek intrusions -- War and slavery in the West to 146 B.C. -- The Roman republic : praedial slavery, piracy, and slave revolts -- The later republic : the slave and the Roman familia -- The later republic : social and legal position of slaves -- Slavery under the Roman empire to Constantine the Great : sources and numbers of slaves -- The Roman Empire in the West : economic aspects of slavery -- Slavery under the Roman Empire : the provenance of slaves, how sold and prices paid -- The Roman Empire : living conditions and social life of slaves -- Imperial slaves and freedmen of the emperors : amelioration of slavery -- The moral implications of imperial slavery and the "decline" of ancient culture -- In the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire -- From Diocletian to Justinian : problems os slavery -- From Diocletian to Justinian : the eastern and the western developments -- From Diocletian to Justinian : leveling of position between free workers and slaves -- Upon slavery and Christianity -- Conclusion.

Placing slavery in the mainstream of modern history, the essays in this survey describe its transfer from the Old World, its role in forging the interdependence of the Atlantic economies, and its impact on Africa.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the mistreatment of black Americans. In this 'precise and eloquent work' - as described in its Pulitzer Prize citation - Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history - an 'Age of Neoslavery' that thrived in the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II. Using a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Blackmon unearths the lost stories of slaves and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation and then back into the shadow of involuntary servitude thereafter. By turns moving, sobering and shocking, this unprecedented account reveals these stories, the companies that profited the most from neoslavery, and the insidious legacy of racism that reverberates today.

De islamiske religiøse idealer medførte, at muslimerne ikke gerne engagerede sig i krig eller regeringsanliggender, hvorfor de gennem tiderne systematisk skaffede sig udenlandske slaver, som blev uddannet og anvendt som professionelle soldater, første gang omkring 815-820, f.eks. er det berømte tyrkiske janitscharkorps, der bestod af osmanniske elitesoldater, skabt i det sene 1300 tal af kristne krigsfanger.

This wide-ranging book presents the first comprehensive and comparative account of the slave trade within the nations and colonial systems of the Americas. While most scholarly attention to slavery in the Americas has concentrated on international transatlantic trade, the essays in this volume focus on the slave trades within Brazil, the West Indies, and the Southern states of the United States after the closing of the Atlantic slave trade. The contributors cast new light upon questions that have framed the study of slavery in the Americas for decades. The book investigates such topics as the illegal slave trade in Cuba, the Creole slave revolt in the U.S., and the debate between pro- and antislavery factions over the interstate slave trade in the South. Together, the authors offer fresh and provocative insights into the interrelations of capitalism, sovereignty, and slavery.

Winner of the Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award, American Sociological Association Co-Winner of the Ralph J. Bunche Award, American Political Science Association In a work of prodigious scholarship and enormous breadth, which draws on the tribal, ancient, premodern, and modern worlds, Orlando Patterson discusses the internal dynamics of slavery in sixty-six societies over time. These include Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, China, Korea, the Islamic kingdoms, Africa, the Caribbean islands, and the American South. Praise for the previous edition: “Densely packed, closely argued, and highly controversial in its dissent from much of the scholarly conventional wisdom about the function and structure of slavery worldwide.” —Boston Globe “There can be no doubt that this rich and learned book will reinvigorate debates that have tended to become too empirical and specialized. Patterson has helped to set out the direction for the next decades of interdisciplinary scholarship.” —David Brion Davis, New York Review of Books “This is clearly a major and important work, one which will be widely discussed, cited, and used. I anticipate that it will be considered among the landmarks in the study of slavery, and will be read by historians, sociologists, and anthropologists—as well as many other scholars and students.” —Stanley Engerman