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Rating: 
Summary: Thorough account of Slavery in America
Review: "Roll, Jordan, Roll," by Eugene D. Genovese goes into great detail on the subject. While Genovese is hardly an apologist for Southern slaveholders, he fully documents their case, citing numerous sociologists and historians who state that the physical living conditions of most slaves exceeded that of the working poor of Europe (and in many cases America as well). Virginia planters such as the people I descend from tended to treat their slaves better than those on the frontier or people like the ancestors of Edward Ball (Slaves in the Family), who owned enormous rice plantations. Don't get the idea that anyone gets off easy. The hypocracy and cruelty of the slaveholder class is documented in painful detail. The book is at times overly academic, but Genovese quotes extensively from court decisions, slaveholder correspondence and accounts by former slaves and those who fought for their freedom. Whether your interest in the subject is academic or personal, I doubt you will find a more thoroughly documented account of America's most "peculiar" institution.
Rating:
Summary: Thorough account of Slavery in America
Review: "Roll, Jordan, Roll," by Eugene D. Genovese goes into great detail on the subject. While Genovese is hardly an apologist for Southern slaveholders, he fully documents their case, citing numerous sociologists and historians who state that the physical living conditions of most slaves exceeded that of the working poor of Europe (and in many cases America as well). Virginia planters such as the people I descend from tended to treat their slaves better than those on the frontier or people like the ancestors of Edward Ball (Slaves in the Family), who owned enormous rice plantations. Don't get the idea that anyone gets off easy. The hypocracy and cruelty of the slaveholder class is documented in painful detail. The book is at times overly academic, but Genovese quotes extensively from court decisions, slaveholder correspondence and accounts by former slaves and those who fought for their freedom. Whether your interest in the subject is academic or personal, I doubt you will find a more thoroughly documented account of America's most "peculiar" institution.
Rating:
Summary: Thorough account of Slavery in America
Review: "Roll, Jordan, Roll," by Eugene D. Genovese goes into great detail on the subject. While Genovese is hardly an apologist for Southern slaveholders, he fully documents their case, citing numerous sociologists and historians who state that the physical living conditions of most slaves exceeded that of the working poor of Europe (and in many cases America as well). Virginia planters such as the people I descend from tended to treat their slaves better than those on the frontier or people like the ancestors of Edward Ball (Slaves in the Family), who owned enormous rice plantations. Don't get the idea that anyone gets off easy. The hypocracy and cruelty of the slaveholder class is documented in painful detail. The book is at times overly academic, but Genovese quotes extensively from court decisions, slaveholder correspondence and accounts by former slaves and those who fought for their freedom. Whether your interest in the subject is academic or personal, I doubt you will find a more thoroughly documented account of America's most "peculiar" institution.
Rating:
Summary: The last word in documenting slave culture
Review: Genovese's work, while extremely long and, I think pretentious at times in its tone, it is extemely well researched and is currently the last word on slave culture and the interaction between master and slave on southern plantations. One of his most striking observations that I can still rember reading even after five years is his concept of paternalism and how masters and slaves viewed the concept differently. Masters felt it was their duty to take care of their "children" the slaves by providing food and certain privilages, like whisky on Christmas and New Years. In return, masters expected obedience, but even more crucually, love in return. Slaves on the other hand saw those "privilages" as rights and would act up if certain privilages were taken away. When emancipation came, Genovese argues, that masters were really quite emotionally hurt when their slaves decided to run away--the masters came to see themselves as the only way that their "children" could survive. The hurt was even more acute when the slaves joined up with the union army to attack the very plantations and masters that took care of them. One can easily see how this feeling of ungratefulness could lead to cruelty and violence in the south following the civil war. When I was in college a few years back, this book was seen by my professors as _the_ final word on the subject of 19th century slave culture
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Best Books on American Slavery
Review: One thing I've consistently noted in reading reviews on Black Studies Books is that apparently white reviewers completely miss the point of these books, namely that American slavery is considered by most historians to be the most cruel and brutal ever and that Trans-Atlantic slavery, in general, is NOT the same thing as other forms of slavery---especially those in Africa before European nation contact. Genovese does a lot of work in clearing up that misconception and misunderstanding. Specfically, he fixes the historical white wash that Stamp does in making the conditions of slavery more important than the existence of slavery. Genovese is perhaps one of the ranking last words on slavery. The book lends itself to an indept psychological examination of slavery which more accurately than Stamp's suggest that people do not always act in the better material interests even when they are aware of the consequences of their actions. Genovese indicates there was a strong material motive for slavery---what else could justify the extreme expense of it. But also, Genovese is one of the first scholars to begin to examine the consequences that whites suffered in dehumanizing themselves by dehumanizing others---a condition that exists today in the form of white supremacy.
Rating:
Summary: The last word in documenting slave culture
Review: This was one of the most interesting books I have read in history (up there with Darnton's The Great Cat Massacre). There is the tendency to view blacks of slavery times as victims and victims only; this book conveys the richness of the culture and more importantly their humanity; The chapters on courtship rituals were extremely entertaining and fascinating. I haven't read widely of the time period, but this ranks as the best of what I've read so far.
Rating:
Summary: milestone cultural history book--a fascinating discussion !!
Review: This was one of the most interesting books I have read in history (up there with Darnton's The Great Cat Massacre). There is the tendency to view blacks of slavery times as victims and victims only; this book conveys the richness of the culture and more importantly their humanity; The chapters on courtship rituals were extremely entertaining and fascinating. I haven't read widely of the time period, but this ranks as the best of what I've read so far.
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