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Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves

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This book is a poignant call for action. Most Americans have no idea where the products they purchase come from or at least who is making the products. Kevin Bales delivers a current status on enslavement. Slavery may have officially stopped in the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation. In search of cheap labor, companies went abroad. Some of the personal stories were so sad that I really cried, out of sadness for the people for their painful and ruined lives and wondering how much I as an American consumer had contributed to their misery. Bales offers a solution which begins with Americans recognizing the problem and the lobbying for change. Americans can impact this problem directly by not buying slave-produced products and campaigning against it through Congress. This is not a light read.

Kevin Bales is a recognized world authority on the generally hidden phenomenon of modern slavery; he best known for Disposable People (1999), a standard and influential text in classrooms and with policy makers. Ending Slavery (2007) is his latest book which reveals updated information and additional heartbreaking stories, balanced by optimistic practical solutions for the audacious goal of ending slavery around the world. Either one of these books would be an excellent place to start learning about modern slavery for the average reader. While slavery can be a depressing subject, Ending Slavery is ultimately uplifting because of its success stories, of solutions working, of the world becoming a better place and ways to keep the momentum going. By the end of the book there is a practical plan of what to do next for everyone from the concerned citizen, community leader, governments and NGO.

Modern slavery is largely hidden from view because, unlike in the 19th century and earlier, slavery today is illegal everywhere and- like drugs- the problem has gone underground. There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today - by comparison in the entire 350 year history of the African slave trade, about 13 million slaves were brought to the New World. When talking about modern slavery this comparison to the African slave trade is often made, and for good reason, our culture is saturated with the history of slavery from the movie "Roots", the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or Civil War history. If this cultural outrage of history were channeled to help modern slaves alive and toiling away today, imagine the good, but it starts with awareness. Most people don't know the basics of modern slavery: What is a modern slave? Where are they? What do they do? What can we do about it? This book answers those questions.

As the cover-picture of the book suggests, a happy discovery awaits within. After slavery comes freedom. New found freedom is one of the most rewarding experiences imaginable, both for slaves and those who help free them. It is no accident Lincoln, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu and others are among the most revered and popular leaders; or that the first and oldest human rights organization in the world is an anti-slave group (which still exists in England, connected to Kevin Bales). The struggle for freedom is far from over, and its happening everywhere from the suburbs of Washington DC to the cocoa (chocolate) plantations of Africa. Take the time to learn how slavery impacts us all, and what to do about it.

There are a number of free films online that tie into the book. In particular _Slavery: A Global Investigation _and _Dreams Die Hard_ detail some of the same people and stories in the book, including interviews with Bales.

As an author who has also written about slavery, I can say that Bales' many years' experience with the subject are apparent on every page. Avoiding sensationalism or unhelpful despair, Ending Slavery is an expert and pragmatic guide for all of us, rich and poor, interested in advancing the cause of human rights and general happiness.

We do not address problems of global poverty and slavery with our sympathy or pity. Bales' ability to articulate concrete, positive steps is invaluable.

This book goes far beyond its issue. By addressing the tangible, achieveable mechanisms by which we address the roots and causes of slavery, Bales also manages to shine a light toward ways we can help smooth the iniquities and anti-democratic tendencies resulting from the current mania for "globalization."

Ending Slavery is not luxury reading, a do-gooder tome for those of us with the leisure to care about poor foreigners in unimaginable situations. It's a technical manual for how we in the First World can save ourselves. As Bales has previously written (I hope I get this quote right), "slave labor anywhere threatens free labor everywhere." Slavery in a globalized world is not only wrong, but dangerous.

This is a great follow up to Disposable People and is even better. The author doesn't only describe slavery and how it is found in the 21st century but provides great solutions to the problem. More harrowing, was how he described the ending of slavery in Nepal which ended up being a humanitarian disaster for the people who were freed. Kevin Bales learns from this experience and tries to create a better way of ending slavery. It would be very interesting if all could be carried out. I highly recommend reading this book to find out the author's position. It is definitely the best book I've read so far through the Amazon Vine program.

Ending slavery,

This is a very interesting read. Bales talks about slavery today through the eyes of recent slaves. There are so many amazing horrific and sad stories. You read about slavery in history class and how it ended in 1865. There is slavery even today in the United States. Bales talks about how potential slaves are tricked into slavery with the promise of education and a better life and education only to be enslaved without pay, they are taken from their families never to be seen again, moved continents away from their families. Once in the United States they are mistreated, they are beaten into submission. Society takes advantage of the impoverished people who don't necessarily understand the true intentions of those attempting to enslave them.

Bales talks about slavery through out the ages, their treatment, how they are bought, sold and discarded. Stopping the subculture and trade mechanism that supports and even thrives off the the slavery market. Bales covers the social and economic impact for buying and selling slaves through out time and how it has changed. There many interesting common denominators that have remained consistent throught time.


Bales talks about the problem of ending slavery on a global basis and how to do it. His ideas seem plausible and credible. Ending slavery would be a difficult task because the issues crosses many physical borders, social and economic barriers. Slavery has to end.

This was a very interesting and eye opening read for me. I highly recommend this book. In many ways it opened my consciousness about this problem.

This book is a follow up to Kevin Bales' devastating "Disposable People," in which we learned that tens of millions people around the world are technically enslaved, from migrant farmers and sweatshop workers in the Third World, to prostitutes and servants right here in America. This is usually not the "ownership" type of slavery that was officially outlawed in most of the world in the 1800s, but an insidious form of "debt bondage" that is encouraged by the globalized economy and consumer markets. To really understand the origins of this problem and how bad it has become, it's necessary to become familiar with "Disposable People" first. Hence, "Ending Slavery" will make more sense to the concerned and knowledgeable reader. Here Bales expands upon basic research into the subject and proposes action and solutions.

Granted, this book has some readability issues, as Bales tends to repeat his basic points about the seriousness of the modern slavery problem, his regular recommendations for activism are also rather tiresome, and he sometimes falls into cloying "we can do it" sentimentality. But what makes this book victorious is the sheer intricacy and inclusiveness of Bales' proposed solutions, which are based on practical experience and on-the-ground understanding. This is far beyond the shallow pie-in-the-sky idealism that is usually found in this type of activist-oriented call to action. Some critics will probably find Bales' proposals impractical or misguided, but that would be reactionary at best, because regardless of his practicality Bales is at least drawing attention to a horrifying problem and is doing so with passion and experience. The point is to spread the word about the need for change, and Bales is doing that incredibly well. After reading Bales' works on the insidiousness of modern slavery, it is all but impossible to not care, and all readers will surely want to work for a solution in their own ways - large or small. [~doomsdayer520~]

One cannot fail to be moved by this book. Unless, of course, you are one of those who gain from the slave trade or to put it in it's polite euphamistic form, a people trafficker.

Bales offers a harrowing account of modern day slavery, from beginning to end and sets out a plan to end it. While the focus of the book is primarily on the less developed world he acknowledges the existance of slaves in contemporary America, but the concentration onto Less Develop Countries is a recognition that the solution to the problem s there will result in freedom of the greatest numbers from their bondage.

It will not be an easy task but bringing consumer attention to the contribution of slaves to the consumer goods which they consume in great numbers will undoubtedly make politicians sit up and take notice.

This is no mere account of the existance of slavery in today's world, it is a call to arms and an action plan to boot. Bales recognises the existance of a think tank with a mission to end all slavery, but the change in ideas required takes time.

Encourage everyone to read this book them pass it on to someone involved in opinion formation and bring the issue to their attention. By this small action readers will help bring this issue to the fore and we can raise our heads above the parapet of the daily grind and know that we have taken the first small steps to bringing real freedom to millions of sufferers worldwide.

My sister told me recently about reading Disposable People, the first book by this author about slavery that still exist in the world today. She was very moved by the book. I started my reading on the subject with this book, Ending Slavery. I found myself quite shocked and horrified with the accounts of slavery I found there, especially those involving children, which were many of the cases. Slavery almost doesn't seem like strong enough a word for how these children are treated, such as those forced to make rugs or fish in extremely dangerous condition. The ideas for ending slavery and the accounts of times this has been done successfully were very inspiring. Often, the freed slaves themselves and their families are the most powerful voice, as so many slaves are children taken from their families by trickery. The author explains so well how desperately poor many of the families so tricked are, lest we feel somehow they don't care for their children---often it's a case of dying of starvation or taking the chance that the sweet talking stranger is telling the truth.

I think I should have read the books in a different order, however. This book seems a bit like a continuation of Disposable People, and I felt a little like some of the accounts were not as full as they might be, and that I would understand the situation better with more background knowledge.

Overall, much more than a book, a well thought out guide to how we could really do something to end this horror.

This is a difficult but necessary book to read. Our popular thoughts on history and sociology dictate that slavery was outlawed in the nineteenth century and was ended in the de facto sense in the twentieth century. As Bales points out in great detail, although it is illegal, de facto slavery has not disappeared. While the typical American would probably say, "Well I suppose there is some residual slavery in poor countries", they would be wrong. There are documented cases of slavery in the United States; one terrible example was young women from Mexico held in sexual slavery in the San Diego area. They were forced to service over 40 men a day in the fields where the migrant farm workers toiled.
Fortunately, when it is discovered in the United States, slavery is dealt with harshly. The American society has suffered a great deal as a consequence of this issue and slavery is now repugnant to all American citizens. However, some of the industrialized nations are among the offenders, with Japan probably leading in that dubious statistic. As Bales describes and other sources have supported, there is a multi-billion dollar sexual slavery industry in Japan. Poor women from other countries are lured to Japan with promises of jobs, only to become the modern equivalent of "comfort women."
Bales is also very realistic in his strategies to fight slavery. As he so cogently states, a simple boycott of goods produced by slavery will almost certainly make the situation worse for the slaves and selectively punish the makers of the goods not made by slave labor. After the cotton is picked and baled, it is impossible to trace it back to the point of origin. Bales also is very clear in explaining the economic and social damage of slavery (either real or de facto) to a society. There is no more telling example than the de facto slavery that existed in the Southern United States before the civil rights movement. Once blacks were enfranchised and the grip of white dominance removed, the south began its strong economic growth.
There is no simple solution to the problem of slavery in the world, like so many solutions to problems it is a simple one that is destructive in the long term. Wars must be ended, wealth must be distributed and many long-standing cultural traditions must be overturned. Bales provides an honest appraisal of the problem and is very realistic in his offering of solutions.

Honest, inspiring and reader-friendly, Kevin Bales' "Ending Slavery" is an important book for the antislavery movement, and a must-read for anyone desiring a world without slavery.
Bales has seen firsthand the destructive toll of slavery on individuals, communities, economies and the environment; however, he has also witnessed the inspiring transformations that occur when whole villages are freed and empowered to remain free. In an intensely personal voice, Bales uses stories and statistics to expose the extent, complexity and horror of slavery, and he demonstrates that ending slavery in our time is not only a moral necessity, it is a real possibility.
The scope and challenge of slavery are so great that even the most determined individuals can feel overwhelmed and helpless. Bales acknowledges this feeling, and answers it. He gives the baseline knowledge needed to understand the theory and application of his ideas and, though he discusses commitments and steps that corporations, national governments and global organizations must make, at every level he shows an opportunity for individuals to have influence. Each chapter concludes with a helpful action list that summarizes his plan step-by-step. Readers will finish the book not hopeless, but inspired.
Bales' plans are not always easy but they are not impossible. He draws from history and current effort to illustrate that much of what he suggests has been undertaken successfully before or is working now in other contexts and countries. Neither are they infallible (and Bales does not proclaim them as such). They will require collective will, allotment of the necessary resources, and a commitment to pursue and replicate successful methods. The resources exist. Bales has given a solid first plan for success. Will and commitment may be the difference between bondage and freedom for literally millions of people.