Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, 1680-1800 [Paperback]

Allan Kulikoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1986 | ISBN-10: 0807842249 | ISBN-13: 978-0807842249

Tobacco and Slaves is a major reinterpretation of the economic and political transformation of Chesapeake society from 1680 to 1800. Building upon massive archival research in Maryland and Virginia, Allan Kulikoff provides the most comprehensive study to date of changing social relations—among both blacks and whites—in the eighteenth-century South. He links his arguments about class, gender, and race to the later social history of the South and to larger patterns of American development.

Allan Kulikoff is professor of history at Northern Illinois University and author of The Agrarian Origins of American Capitalism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A sweeping synthesis of early Chesapeake history focused on the origins of a distinctive southern way of life.

Paul G. E. Clemens, Rutgers University

Tobacco and Slaves is sure to become a landmark in the historiography of the American South.

Rachel N. Klein, Journal of Southern History

Product Details

• Paperback: 449 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (August 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807842249
• ISBN-13: 978-0807842249
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #906,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Look at a Complex Society, February 22, 2005

By 

Michael Rucks "mikellen4" (Bakersfield,CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, 1680-1800 (Paperback)

Tobacco and Slaves is a synthesis that attempts to trace the development of culture in Maryland and Virginia. He approaches this task in three parts; the first is a very detailed survey of demographic and economic development, while the second and third parts analyze the formation of white and black societies. A materialist/New Left framework shapes Kulikoff's interpretations in that he acknowledges that "this work is predicated upon a form of historical materialism that gives material conditions (demography and the economy in particular) a privileged role in the formation of ideologies, classes, and cultures" (16). Additionally, the book's theme centers on the development and relationship of economic classes. Yet, Kulikoff seems to be consciously avoiding a "bottom-up" approach to history that tends to shape much of the work produced by the New Left. Instead, he attempts, sometime awkwardly, to show the whole of Chesapeake society, black and white, as it developed over one hundred twenty years.

There is much to praise in this book, the scope of material presented and researched is impressive, and Kulikoff's survey of slave families is quite valuable. One drawback is that his insistence on materialistic causation minimizes human agency and gives short-shrift to the complexities of human motivations and behaviors. Indeed, the materialist model is not entirely satisfactory, but the reader does not need to accept all of Kulikoff's conclusions to appreciate the complexities of Chesapeake society that he so ably presents.

3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Statistical student's dream, February 18, 2007

By 

C. Espinosa (WI, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, 1680-1800 (Paperback)

I bought this book for a research project I was working on for my history class, and I never found a book more tedious than this one. Kulikoff focuses his research on economic and demographic statistics explained in very long, boring paragraphs. In addition to that he highlights the statistics with MANY charts and graphs. For a reader wanting to know the social history on Tobacco and Slaves in the early Chesapeake, this book is NOT for you. If you're looking for numbers and dates and charts, look no further.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Book of medium quality, August 10, 2010

By 

Gustavo Acioli Lopes - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, 1680-1800 (Paperback)

Almost everything went as expected. However, the book has several pencil marks inside, which it was not reported in book's add.