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207 reviews for:
The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism
Edward E. Baptist
4.48 AVERAGE
207 reviews for:
The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism
Edward E. Baptist
4.48 AVERAGE
Next time you run into that person who says, "So what, my white grandma picked cotton too," point them to this quote:
“Many enslaved cotton pickers in the late 1850s had peaked at well over 200 pounds per day. In the 1930s, after a half-century of massive scientific experimentation, all to make the cotton boll more pickable, the great-grandchildren of the enslaved often picked only 100 to 120 pounds per day.”
“Many enslaved cotton pickers in the late 1850s had peaked at well over 200 pounds per day. In the 1930s, after a half-century of massive scientific experimentation, all to make the cotton boll more pickable, the great-grandchildren of the enslaved often picked only 100 to 120 pounds per day.”
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Colonisation
Powerful history. The frame I learned history under as a kid was mostly "America was great because America was just kinda great" and this book provides a comprehensive different frame - that America became ""great"" on the backs of enslaved people and slavery as an economic system.
Another audiobook- incredible history of slavery, that manages to capture the economic truths of slavery and the impact it had on the economy throughout the United States and it's impact around the world, while still being truthful and compassionate about the impact it had on the lives of those forced into bondage. It's an incredible feat to accomplish both, to give you a picture, for example, both of how the northern US economy was heavily dependent on the cotton trade, while also giving truth to the pain of having your children taken away from you and sold to someone hundreds or thousands of miles away. Baptist never loses sight and never lets the reader forget about the brutality of the slave trade and forced labor camps, and brings light to some of the lesser mentioned topics when it comes to the history slavery, especially the significant portion of it that involved specific, purposeful, sex trafficking. A true masterpiece that everyone should read!
Amazing insights and a book that all Americans should read. It finally puts to rest the idea of slavery being paternalistic and not as atrocious as it was, and the more recent idea that Civil War was fought for States' rights. It lays out a very convincing argument that the USA and its wealth and power that came in the mid-1800s was built on the backs of the slaves. Also interesting was the fact of the wealth that was built on the borrowing and lending for the purchase of slaves in many ways mirrored the ways of borrowing and lending for the housing market that crashed in 2008, interestingly with some of the same banks taking part in both situations.
I was astounded by the facts behind the Louisiana Purchase, which had been somehow glossed over or removed from anything I remembered from my HS history lessons. A slave rebellion in what is current day Haiti resulted in Napoleon getting rid of the Louisiana territory at a bargain price. How did that get missed?
I have found since reading the book that I can see how much of the Bigger, Better, Faster, Harder capitalism of the US really does come from the ghosts of the cotton fields. We did it once with cotton as king, even while on the backs of others, and seem to think in our collective unconsciousness that we can do it again with other commodities or businesses with the same effect of ruining the poor, the disadvantaged, the environment, or something else. It helps to explain our messed up American systems and ideas that linger on in the South and elsewhere.
The narrative structure works well with this book, which means it's an easier read than some usual non-fiction histories. I enjoyed it thoroughly although I was regularly stopped by what I was reading to reconsider what I thought I knew against what I was learning.
I was astounded by the facts behind the Louisiana Purchase, which had been somehow glossed over or removed from anything I remembered from my HS history lessons. A slave rebellion in what is current day Haiti resulted in Napoleon getting rid of the Louisiana territory at a bargain price. How did that get missed?
I have found since reading the book that I can see how much of the Bigger, Better, Faster, Harder capitalism of the US really does come from the ghosts of the cotton fields. We did it once with cotton as king, even while on the backs of others, and seem to think in our collective unconsciousness that we can do it again with other commodities or businesses with the same effect of ruining the poor, the disadvantaged, the environment, or something else. It helps to explain our messed up American systems and ideas that linger on in the South and elsewhere.
The narrative structure works well with this book, which means it's an easier read than some usual non-fiction histories. I enjoyed it thoroughly although I was regularly stopped by what I was reading to reconsider what I thought I knew against what I was learning.
This book is an excellent read and very informative. My biggest issue is the way it is written. Baptist tries to be too flowery and poetic at times making this difficult to get through at some parts.
For some, it is easy to dismiss America and therefore the modern world economy being built on slavery as metaphor or as something that is finished with and of no relevance. Baptist with this brilliantly researched book exposes this sanitisation of history in a way that goes into great detail and yet distills the main points effectively. Consistently contextualises the attitudes, motivations and rationalisations of enslavers and while not the book's main focus it describes the kidnap and torture of enslaved Africans in a way that can only inspire sobering horror.
Towards the end of the book the emergence of Jim Crow is covered and the path from slavery to modern systemic racism is crystal clear.
Towards the end of the book the emergence of Jim Crow is covered and the path from slavery to modern systemic racism is crystal clear.
A different point of view
I’ve read several books on slavery in America but this one took me to a different place. How slavery built capitalism in this country, creating what still remains, an industrial north and agrarian south, is fascinating.
Recognizing how the forced labor of Africans and their descendants helped fuel what would become our modern world economic is mind blowing.
I now see the bubbling frustrations of white men in America (particularly the south) in a new light. Sharing the wealth was never the intended outcome, and in trying to hang on to it, they eventually lost it all.
Please, read this book.
I’ve read several books on slavery in America but this one took me to a different place. How slavery built capitalism in this country, creating what still remains, an industrial north and agrarian south, is fascinating.
Recognizing how the forced labor of Africans and their descendants helped fuel what would become our modern world economic is mind blowing.
I now see the bubbling frustrations of white men in America (particularly the south) in a new light. Sharing the wealth was never the intended outcome, and in trying to hang on to it, they eventually lost it all.
Please, read this book.
In The Half Has Never Been Told Baptist creates an incisive and engaging historical account of the ways in which slavery and its legacy is entangled with American capitalism. For a history, it leans less on the at times incomprehensible turgidity of academic wring and more an a florid, poetic style that is easily accessible. In fact, Baptist uses a narrative framing structure that seeks to take the real lived experiences or slave narratives and use them to create entry points into the complex interwoven economics systems that built the United States.
This is both a pro and a con. Some popular histories fail to reach an audience for overwrought or dense academese, and this book avoids that particular pitfall. However, the flowery and narrativized history here sometimes obfuscates what is being articulated as a citation or analysis of fact and those things that may have been embellished for the sake of telling an accessible story. To be clear, all of the primary events that Baptist cites are things that are verifiable and his analyses and conclusions are well-supported. But the framing of complex nationally (and globally) connected economies and the intricate political issues that informed the development of the US with personal narratives, while humanizing the issue, also creates an opportunity for bad-faith readings. At times, Baptist fills in the gaps in personal stories by imagining things that may have or could have happened. This only occurs in the the narrative framing devices he uses as a lens to access the more complicated (and accurately cited) facts. And while I appreciate the artistry and humanity that he brings to the issue, these more poetic moments of framing also create potential gaps in the armor of his argument.
Overall, I think this is a really good look at the ways in which slavery undergirded the development of the US economy and has informed the legal and economic structures we see today. If you are okay with a little bit of purple prose as a narrative device to introduce complex facts and issues, this is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it.
This is both a pro and a con. Some popular histories fail to reach an audience for overwrought or dense academese, and this book avoids that particular pitfall. However, the flowery and narrativized history here sometimes obfuscates what is being articulated as a citation or analysis of fact and those things that may have been embellished for the sake of telling an accessible story. To be clear, all of the primary events that Baptist cites are things that are verifiable and his analyses and conclusions are well-supported. But the framing of complex nationally (and globally) connected economies and the intricate political issues that informed the development of the US with personal narratives, while humanizing the issue, also creates an opportunity for bad-faith readings. At times, Baptist fills in the gaps in personal stories by imagining things that may have or could have happened. This only occurs in the the narrative framing devices he uses as a lens to access the more complicated (and accurately cited) facts. And while I appreciate the artistry and humanity that he brings to the issue, these more poetic moments of framing also create potential gaps in the armor of his argument.
Overall, I think this is a really good look at the ways in which slavery undergirded the development of the US economy and has informed the legal and economic structures we see today. If you are okay with a little bit of purple prose as a narrative device to introduce complex facts and issues, this is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it.
This book should be mandatory reading by everyone as part of their US History class. The trifecta of US history that was never taught includes this book, The Warmth of Other Suns witch picks up with reconstruction, Jim Crow and the great migration and, finally, The New Jim Crow that covers our criminal justise system.
This book looks at the development of the US economy and our emergence as a global power throught the economic impact, efficiencies and advantages of commoditizing the cototn labor force as slaves. It has all the data of an economics text but is written stylicallynas a metaphor on the human body, divided into chapters named by body parts. The data aspect of the narrative is further supported by stories - histories of individual. I thought this approach, the melding of economics data with narrative was brilliant for this book on how an entire race of people were turned into a commodity. It worked. It kept me engaged and it kept me from being able to forget that the commodity being explained was human. Because back upon a time we did forget and deny that slaves were human.
Some people wrote negative reviews because they didn't like the story angle or they didn't like the autheros use of metaphot and language to emphasise his point. In the chaptor on seed when the discussion turns to the loss of sexual autonomy by slaves, either by being raped and subjugated or by having their familied ripped apart and never having control over their partners, families, children etc. the auther uses the F word over the span of sever pages - it is jarring, it is disturbing, it gets in your head. It is supposed to. The author uses narrative style to engage readers in a topic that is normally somdry that few read scholarly works about it - if more read this book and integrate the message because the style makes it readible then I say hooray.
The book is disturbing on many levels but needs to be read. We need to know our history and understand and acknowledge that slavery is the reason America became a world econic power - North and South alike, the US economy was built on the backs of slaves. We need to know that truth, say it out loud and finally figure out how to genuinely appologize for it.
This book looks at the development of the US economy and our emergence as a global power throught the economic impact, efficiencies and advantages of commoditizing the cototn labor force as slaves. It has all the data of an economics text but is written stylicallynas a metaphor on the human body, divided into chapters named by body parts. The data aspect of the narrative is further supported by stories - histories of individual. I thought this approach, the melding of economics data with narrative was brilliant for this book on how an entire race of people were turned into a commodity. It worked. It kept me engaged and it kept me from being able to forget that the commodity being explained was human. Because back upon a time we did forget and deny that slaves were human.
Some people wrote negative reviews because they didn't like the story angle or they didn't like the autheros use of metaphot and language to emphasise his point. In the chaptor on seed when the discussion turns to the loss of sexual autonomy by slaves, either by being raped and subjugated or by having their familied ripped apart and never having control over their partners, families, children etc. the auther uses the F word over the span of sever pages - it is jarring, it is disturbing, it gets in your head. It is supposed to. The author uses narrative style to engage readers in a topic that is normally somdry that few read scholarly works about it - if more read this book and integrate the message because the style makes it readible then I say hooray.
The book is disturbing on many levels but needs to be read. We need to know our history and understand and acknowledge that slavery is the reason America became a world econic power - North and South alike, the US economy was built on the backs of slaves. We need to know that truth, say it out loud and finally figure out how to genuinely appologize for it.