Anyone who had to grow up in the USA during the 1950s and 1960s was propagandized by the myths that grew out of the "noble cause" version of the racist war to save slavery fought by the Confederate States of America between 1861 and 1865. The version of history that we were taught in public and private schools during those years might have begun and ended with the showing of "Gone With The Wind" -- with maybe "Birth of a Nation" thrown in to remind us of the nobility of Nathan Bedford Forrest's band of veterans of the noble cause. Add to that the myth of Robert E. Lee and the trashing of U.S. Grant (and Reconstruction) and we had a deep hole to dig out of if we wanted to understand the true history of a country that in 1861 had four million men, women and children in bondage and an entire class of pundits, preachers, and professors devoting their well-subsidized writings to creating the racist myths of American slavery.
Of course there were books and studies that pointed out the other side and debunked the silly stuff produced by Margaret Mitchell and the official racist propagandists posing as historians -- but they were as hard to find in most American schools when I went to elementary school (1952 - 1960) or high school (1960 - 1964) as union leaders who would praise the Communists who had helped bring some rights to the workers in the mass industries from electrical (near where I lived, the GE Kearny works), Auto (down the street from our home, the BOP GM plant) and of course the steel mills that had helped our parents (both my Mom and Dad were in the World War II Army) defeat the 20th Century version of the "Noble Cause" -- Nazism.
And so it's wonderful that "The Half Has Never Been Told" is now available for readers to dig their way out of the evil mythologies that surrounded the century of Lynch Law, KKK rule, and "Gone With The Wind" nonsense. There were other books available even in those dismal days, of course. Had we had access to the writings of W.E.B. DuBois in Linden New Jersey we could have tried (probably unsuccessfully) to argue with those who cried about the fate of Scarlet O'Hara or pushed us into fighting Communism by traveling 8,000 miles to what had under colonialism been called "Indochina." But it was hard. As the man said in the movie (later), "Free your mind and your ass will follow." But the corollary is that if your mind is enslaved to a set of carefully orchestrated lies about U.S. history, then you have a double challenge: finding the truth and then doing something about it.
"The Half Has Never Been Told" is one of the few books that takes on the challenge of rectifying the silliness of official U.S. History all the way to the mystical roots in the lies about the economics of American slavery. As Baptist demonstrates, using an enormous number of original sources, slavery in the USA was enormously profitable -- and more so every decade between the sad compromises of the Constitution and the onset of the Civil War. Contrary to the economic myths of previous generations, slavery was enormously profitable and grew in profitability throughout the six decades of the 19th Century during which it ruled the American South (and dominated much of the economy of the rest of the country). "Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism" is the apt title here. Without slavery, American capitalism couldn't have invented itself with such power by the middle of the 19th Century. And the power -- economic and political -- because the financial power to purchase the lies that passed as "history" for nearly 100 years.
Baptist weaves the stories of the lives of slaves into his mega-narrative about the political economy of American racism (and capitalism) and then unfolds the narrative into the future, when the slaves had become free. The joining of the two helps make the history more profound. The history of working people has been suppressed for all of "history," so Baptist's narrative is a contribution that goes beyond just the history of the USA. Around here in Chicago, where we have been revitalizing the work of the unions that represent working people (I am a delegate, now retired, in the Chicago Teachers Union, and everyone in our family took part in the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012), we have to constantly remind one another that the dominant ideas of any generation are the lies that the ruling class tries to make everyone believe as "fact." As I remind my friends, "They [the owners and bosses] will do anything we can't stop them from doing... They've been getting away with that since they forced us to build the pyramids and didn't even say 'Thank You'"...
"The Half Has Never Been Told..." is one of several books in 2014 that helps set the latest distortions of the record straight. Along with Piketty's "Capital" and a handful of other books, it's worth the time (and sleeplessness) required to get through it in detail.
But upon finishing it, you have to wonder. How could anyone as nice as our mothers (and others) believe to the point of tears the racist nonsense pushed by Hollywood (and the publishing industry) in the form of "Gone With The Wind" and the rest of that stuff? So maybe we can alert one another to the next round of lies that will be pushed on us by the preachers, pundits and professors who serve as the propagandists of the current generation of plutocrats. We'll see. Meanwhile, thanks for the research and hard work that went into "The Half Has Never Been Told..."
Noting that the hardest work was done by the slaves who toiled without much ability to tell their narratives during all those years. Now that others are also digging into the facts, it's good that this part if now being told and retold. And it's also time we revised further the odious "heroes" of slavery and the lies that surrounded it, from Thomas Jefferson and Robert E. Lee to the Margaret Mitchells and Walt Disneys (you need to review "Song of the South" and "Old Yeller" if you don't realize this part) of the 20th Century.
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A Must Read To Better Understand the Cruelty and Driving Forces Behind Slavery in America!
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2021
A Must Read To better understand the cruelty and barbarism of the system of slavery in America.
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2021
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apf102
A powerful and important retelling of the story of slavery
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 1, 2015Kindle Customer
Arresting and powerful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 26, 2018Amazon Customer
Can I give this book ten stars?
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 1, 2022
R McCrea
Could have been told in half the book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 9, 2017
