Saturday, September 23, 2006

The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-bellum South by Kenneth M. Stampp

The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-bellum South by Kenneth M. Stampp was published originally in 1955 but is still relevant today. The author looks at the effects of slavery both on the slaves themselves as well as their owners and the wider societal implications. Quite a bit of the book is on the various means of social control placed on both slaves and those who were against the institution. In this respect the book is quite modern in its outlook. Mechanisms of control are a current preoccupation of historians not only of slavery but other social structures.

Excellent and highly recommended.

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