Making sense of slavery : America's long reckoning, from the founding era to today / Scott Spillman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Spillman, Scott, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States.

Slavery--United States--Historiography.

Slavery.

Slavery--History--Study and teaching--United States.

Enslavement.

Slavery--Historiography.

Study skills.

Medical Subjects:

Enslavement.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 429 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

America's long reckoning, from the founding era to today

Place of Publication:

New York : Basic Books, 2025.

Summary:

"In recent years Americans have engaged in fierce debates about how slavery and its legacies ought to be taught, researched, and narrated. But since the earliest days of the Republic, political leaders, abolitionists, judges, scholars, and ordinary citizens have all struggled to explain and understand the peculiar institution. In Making Sense of Slavery, historian Scott Spillman shows that the study of slavery was a vital catalyst for the broader development of American intellectual life and politics. In contexts ranging from the plantation fields to the university classroom, Americans interpreted slavery and its afterlives through many lenses, shaping the trajectory of disciplines from economics to sociology, from psychology to history"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Preface

Prologue: Knowledge is power

National identity

Land and labor

Laws of nature and nations

Still fighting it

Look away

Dixie Land

New foundations

The problem of slavery

Culture and consciousness

The big picture

The ghost

Epilogue: The work.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Miller Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781541602090

1541602099

OCLC:

1443718127

Publisher Number:

40032726102