The American crucible : slavery, emancipation and human rights / Robin Blackburn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blackburn, Robin.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slavery--America--History.

Slavery.

Human rights.

History.

Antislavery movements.

Slavery--Economic aspects.

Enslaved persons--Emancipation.

Enslaved persons--Emancipation--British colonies.

Enslaved persons--Emancipation--French colonies.

Colonies.

America.

Europe--Colonies--America.

Enslaved persons--Emancipation--America.

Slavery--Economic aspects--America.

Antislavery movements--America--History.

Human rights--America--History.

Europe.

Physical Description:

498 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Verso, 2011.

Summary:

A history of the rise and abolition of slavery in the Americas covers such topics as the plantation revolution of the seventeenth century, the emergence of anti-slavery thought, and the contributions of such figures as Thomas Paine and Frederick Douglass.

Contents:

Introduction : slavery and the West

Empires and plantations. The Spanish conquest: destruction, enslavement and the Baroque

Mercantile empire and the slave plantation: Brazil leads, the Dutch, English and French refine the formula

Plantation hierarchy, social order and the Atlantic system

The subversive boom. Slavery and industrialization

Black aspirations and the 'Picaresque Proletariat'

The planters back colonial revolt

From the critique of slavery to the abolitionist movement

The Haitian pivot. Haitians claim the rights of man

Results and prospects I: slave-trade abolition

Results and prospects II: Latin America

The age of abolition. Abolitionism advances, but slavery is resurgent

Anti-slavery: its scope, character and appeal

The keys to emancipation

The spiral path: ambiguous victories, contested legacies.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781844675692

1844675696

OCLC:

714889046