Customer Reviews

The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture (Oxford Paperbacks)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY AND ANTI-SLAVERY. THE AUTHOR, WITHOUT QUESTION ONE OF OUR GREATEST HISTORIANS OF THE SUBJECT, GOES BEYOND THE ARTIFICIAL LINE OF THE CALANDER IN RELATION TO OUR CIVIL WAR AND OFFERS AN INSIGHTFUL VIEW OF THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY IN THE PERIOD LEADING UP TO THE FOUNDING OF OUR COUNTRY. tHIS IS A GREAT BOOK FOR THE SERIOUS STUDENT, NOT FOR THE CASUAL READER.

This work won the 1967 Pulitzer prize for general non-fiction. Since other winners of that prize, e.g., The Guns of August(in 1963), The Making of the President, 1960,(in 1962--the first Pulitzer in this category) The Rising Sun (in 1971), and The Making of the Atomic Bomb (in 1988) have been very enjoyable reads, I decided to read this work. The topic is of interest,, but the author grubs in pre-1776 writing a lot, and I did not find I was caught up in the subject, important tho it is. The treatment is deep in theory, and intellectual history, and while at times this has interested me, I could not find myself enamored by the book--which is a reflection on me, not on the very erudite author.