For parents seeking to discuss difficult historical truths, this book offers a clear, sensitive introduction to the global history of slavery and its enduring impact.
A parent might reach for this book when their child begins asking complex questions about slavery, its history, and its morality. "Slavery: Bondage Throughout History" offers a comprehensive, global overview of the institution, moving beyond the context of American history to explore its presence in ancient civilizations and its continuation in modern forms. It tackles themes of injustice, immense sadness, and the power of human resilience with a direct, factual approach suitable for older children. For families wanting to provide a broad, historically accurate foundation for understanding this difficult subject, this book is an invaluable, if challenging, resource.
Directly confronts the racist ideologies used to justify and perpetuate chattel slavery.
Sensitive Topics
The book's approach to violence, cruelty, and dehumanization is direct and unflinching, grounded in historical fact. The narrative is secular. It presents the immense suffering caused by slavery without sensationalism, but the descriptions are necessarily disturbing. The resolution is realistic: while many forms of historical slavery have been legally abolished, the book makes it clear that the fight for freedom is ongoing, offering a hopeful but sober perspective on the power of abolitionist movements.
Ideal Reader
The ideal reader is a mature, curious 11-14 year old who is ready to move beyond a simplified K-12 curriculum on American slavery. This child asks nuanced questions like, "Why did this happen?" and "Was it only in America?" They are capable of processing difficult historical information and are beginning to develop a strong sense of social justice.
Parent Prep
Parents must preview this book. The descriptions of the Middle Passage, plantation punishments, and the general conditions of enslavement are factual and upsetting. It is highly recommended that a parent read this book with their child to provide emotional support, pause for discussion, and help process the difficult content. This is not a book to be handed over without context and support. A parent seeks this book after their child comes home from school with questions about the Civil War or Black History Month that the parent feels unequipped to answer fully. The trigger could be a child asking, "If everyone knew slavery was wrong, why did it last for so long?" or expressing confusion about the global context.
Age Experience
A 10 or 11-year-old will likely focus on the human stories and the clear injustice, feeling deep empathy and shock. An older reader, around 13 or 14, will better grasp the complex economic and political systems that perpetuated slavery. They will be more able to connect the historical events to their long-term legacies, such as systemic racism and modern human rights issues.
What Makes It Special
Unlike many books for young readers that focus solely on American chattel slavery, this book's primary strength is its global and historical scope. By placing American slavery within a worldwide continuum of bondage throughout human history, it provides a crucial and broader context. This helps a child understand slavery as a recurring and multifaceted crime against humanity, not an isolated event tied to a single country.
Read plot summary
This nonfiction book provides a wide-ranging historical survey of slavery across different cultures and eras. It begins with ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece, and Rome, moves through serfdom in medieval Europe, details the transatlantic slave trade and its impact on Africa and the Americas, and concludes with an examination of modern-day slavery and human trafficking. The book explores the economic drivers of slavery, the ideologies used to justify it, and various forms of resistance and abolition movements.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.
Discussion Prompts
1
Before reading, what was your understanding of slavery? How did learning about its history in places like ancient Rome or in modern times change your perspective?
2
The book details many forms of resistance, from violent rebellions to preserving cultural traditions. Why is it important to learn about how enslaved people fought back, in addition to learning about their suffering?
3
Chapter 5, which describes the Middle Passage, is very difficult to read. What specific details or accounts from that chapter were most impactful to you?
4
The final chapter discusses modern-day slavery. In what ways are today's forms of human trafficking similar to or different from the historical slavery described in the rest of the book?
5
The author explains the economic reasons that different societies used slave labor. How did greed and the desire for wealth allow such a cruel system to exist for so long?
