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The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today

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A Note from the Authors, Ron Soodalter and Kevin Bales:

In his review Mr. Wright is correct that the case involving the Chinese acrobats ended without substantiating the allegation of slavery, a fact we would have included in the book if we had known it at the time the manuscript went to press. It is the nature of writing about current affairs that while the writing must stop at some point so that the printing can begin, events simply continue and will always overtake the text.

However, Mr. Wright's assertion that insufficient research was done on this case, or for that matter on the book in general, is incorrect. Likewise is his assumption that we would distort our information "to sell copy," which is a very serious accusation to make against two scholars who have built reputations on their careful attention to fact and detail. Just to be clear: everything in our book was researched and documented, every point has a clear and accessible citation in the extensive notes to each chapter. In this particular case, we used information from a number of sources beyond the media reports, including interviews with and statements from the Department of Justice, the FBI, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Bork. All of our sources are presented clearly and transparently and we stand by the information we had at the time that we prepared the manuscript. Since, in fact, the charges were ultimately dismissed, we have made the appropriate changes in the upcoming paperback edition (see Epilogue addition to the paperback edition below).

Of course, it would have been helpful to readers if in his review of our book Mr. Wright had identified himself as a lawyer involved in the case of the Chinese acrobats - put simply, he has a dog in this fight. The funny thing is that as the authors of The Slave Next Door we DON'T have a dog in this fight. We have no interest or desire to suggest that slavery exists where it doesn't. Our concern and our dedication is to truthful reporting and fighting to bring an end to slavery in America.
~ Ron Soodalter and Kevin Bales

The following has been added to the Epilogue of the forthcoming paperback edition of The Slave Next Door:

Latest on the Chinese Acrobats
The case involving a troupe of Chinese acrobats who had allegedly been trafficked into slavery in Las Vegas (ref. Chapter 5, pp. 118-210) has been dismissed. According to the New York Times, "Steven W. Myhre, the acting United States attorney for Nevada, said a magistrate judge had initially approved the complaint. 'Upon further investigation, however, the United States has determined that it has been unable to develop evidence sufficient to prove those charges beyond a reasonable doubt,' Mr. Myhre told the Las Vegas Review-Journal." Our apologies to Mr. You Zhi Li if, in fact, he is blameless; thankfully, this is why we have Epilogues![i]

[i] "Slavery Charges are Dismissed" (AP) New York Times, December 25, 2009

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MODERN SLAVERY VISIT [...]

With "The Slave Next Door" Bales and Soodalter have written the definitive work for this recently "hot" social issue.
Meticulously researched (over 30 pages of appendices and notes) and compelling, it documents not only the problem but a well thought out plan of action for government, law enforcement and NGOs. The authors also spell out ways for ordinary citizens to do right by their fellow human beings.
This book should be required reading for every legislator, law enforcement officer and religious leader in the country.

I offer my first- and second-year college writing students a number of books from which to write about each semester on the subject of victims of war, and I allow some of these books to be on war-like conditions: after all, events like rape and murder recreate war episodes to victims even if they are not part of a war. Certainly, "The Slave Next Door" qualifies. While its advocacy against human slavery is clear and strong, it maintains an objectivity and seeks to gather facts in great detail to bolster its assertions that (1) slavery is much more common than most of us realize, (2) many of us see or are affected by it each day in the products we use and the culture we experience, and (3) it won't go away easily or soon. The book is, in these regards, somewhat depressing, but at the same time it is filled with narratives of individual illustrative cases that make it a very interesting read.

One of the more worthy facts and illustrative stories in "Slave" is that sex slavery accounts for a smaller part of slavery in the U.S. than docudramas on TV suggest: agricultural, small-business, and even domestic household slavery all are huge businesses. Individual stories are sometimes heartbreaking and often frustrating in their outcomes as public and private agencies fight, often valiantly but with often with little or no useful result, to help men, women, and children who have been grabbed, tricked, or otherwise spun by a web of lies and violence into a world they never wanted or expected and don't know how to handle. The chapters are arranged such that it is quite possible to read and focus on just a few to gain important knowledge on specific aspects of the slave trade in the U.S.

What are the book's weaknesses? It is somewhat repetitive, partly to get its points across and partly, I would assume, from the author's assumption that many people will in fact choose just a few chapters to read. There is also, especially in the final chapters, quite a bit of advocacy for change, not to mention intricate details of state and federal laws, mandates, and organizations, little of which helped or attracted me as a reader. On the other hand, I have to admit I'm glad these details are there--on the record--for individuals and groups who might need them to help create new organizations or projects to fight U.S. slavery. One more wish I had is that even though books like this normally don't have illustrations, I would have enjoyed having photos or even a short photo section of eight to sixteen pages--especially after seeing TV documentaries about such slavery--so that I could see the faces of those who were enslaved and those who enslaved them.

But these are minor concerns. In all, I strongly recommend "Slaves" to anyone interested in the subject.

I picked up THE SLAVE NEXT DOOR: HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND SLAVERY IN AMERICA TODAY by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter after seeing Mr. Bales interviewed on the radio/television news program DEMOCRACY NOW!. While I knew slavery was as widespread as ever in the United States and other countries, this detail-laden book takes that down the abstraction ladder to the kitchen floor where your neighbors make their live-in "maid" sleep. With each page you turn, THE SLAVE NEXT DOOR spins your head with account after account of people either fooled or taken by force into farming, construction, domestic, or sex work without pay - and with violence should they try to escape.

To my surprise, I am only the third person to review THE SLAVE NEXT DOOR on this web site. I don't know if that means the book is not selling as well as it should or if people just don't want to talk about slavery, even if they read about it. As I write this in October 2009, DEMOCRACY NOW! is the only broadcasting program I follow to run a story on THE SLAVE NEXT DOOR. I promoted the book to a local newspaper reporter who was covering the trial of a human trafficking operator and hope others talk it up to journalists, too. While there is no shortage of injustice in the world, whatever things could quantify as worse than slavery, there can't be many.

Read and promote THE SLAVE NEXT DOOR.

A major point reflected in the opening chapters of the book is that slave owners can be anybody. Its a frightening, unfortunate, and true message. The woman who enslaved poor Maria looked like a regular ordernary Texan housewife. It made me want to get up, walk out of my house and individually check every house in America for slaves. After reading this book and learning in what kinds of numbers slavery still exists in the country, you will be inspired to help the writers' cause. you cant ask for more in a book.

Most Americans believe that slavery is either dead or something that occurs in far off places to foreign people and thusly does not exist or concern us. Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter dispels these myths in The Slave Next Door. Through a combination of cold hard facts and personal stories of exploitation, cohesion, and enslavement. Unlike other books that only focus on one aspect of slavery ( like the sex trade), Bales and Soodalter premise is that no form of slavery is justified and talks deeply about systems of agricultural labor, domestics, and sex slavery and argue that the traffickers will continue to find inventive ways to enslave and exploit others. We have a role in the slave system because we get items like hand-woven rugs from India, Pakistan, and Nepal , steel and metals used in cars is obtained from Brazil after the charcoal has been collected by slaves in Brazil and most distressingly we may be eating products produced from slave labor brought to us by America's largest corporations.

Bales and Soodalter further attack the notion that sex trafficking is only a problem for foreign born women in this country by illustrative cases like that of Dennis Paris who used heroin addiction to control several American born, naturalized citizens into a web of prostitution. The last portion of the book is dedicated to an assessment of United States policy towards victims of Modern Day Slavery by going through agency by agency in the federal government and discussing the steps they are taking to combat the problem. One thing that comes out of here is that NGO's that deal with human slavery are hideously under funded and are in desperate need of skilled labor and this is key when he discusses at the end, what we as Americans can do about modern slavery.

Well written book, which makes us face that trafficking is not only done for sex exploitation. As a lawyer and human rights activist, I really appreciated the evidence but also the way the book opens the eyes of non-specialists. Highly recommended.

By drawing attention to trafficking at large, I feel the book accomplishes something else as well. It opens the door for looking at other forms of trafficking and exploitation not well know to the US public, such as trafficking for begging, underscored by the book Trafficking for Begging: Old Game, New Name. Trafficking for begging and petty theft presents an equally worrisome trend, which we need to be aware of. Very few people realize beggars on the street are trafficking victims. What can we ordinary people do to stop trafficking for begging? Simply don't give money to beggars on the street.

When read in conjunction with "Sex trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery" you really get comprehensive coverage of this terrible worldwide problem. A must reads for anyone with a conscience. It is not a fast read.

An amazing book. This book will open your eyes and hopefully help spread the awareness of this terrible ugly tragedy that is occurring all around us.

last evening
an open cart load of children
were being hauled home at sundown
after working from sun up till now
on trinkets for American consumers
so tired they couldn't wake up for their one meal
of the day
while i was only waking from a night mare
about their day mare
one can not read "The Slave Next Door"
without gaining a conscious re
excessive consumerism
and all that would befog our guilt
of resources stolen
lands destroyed
peoples uprooted from their land

do something?
first buy the book
then do something
our Mother's heart is broken.