American Slavery, American Freedom

This book is pretty dense and long, but it's a brilliant and even somewhat disturbing argument. Morgan's thesis is that the free, egalitarian Virginia that emerged in the 18th century had that freedom and stability largely because of slavery. In other words, the freedom of most white Virginians rest......more

There are a few books in every field that are considered classics. Books that have become part of the story because the impact that they have had on the study of the subject itself. Edmund Morgan’s “American Slavery, American Freedom” is one of those books. Morgan won a Pultizer Prize for "for a cr......more

This is a fantastic, must read book for anyone interested in the origins of American racism. Morgan recounts the cultural, economic and political evolution of the 17th and early 18th century Virginia, and with it, makes comprehensible the reasons why racial slavery emerged as an integral component t......more

I had expected this book to address in detail the role of slavery in colonial America, but to my surprise it presents by far the most lucid account I have read of the first 100 years of the Virginia colony. During those early years, slavery was rare (although legal). The book recounts the economic c......more