The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture (Oxford Paperbacks)

The subject matter of this book is difficult and sometimes quite deep in philosophical and theological concepts. Yet the author writes in a way that very readable without the slightest dumbing down. This is no trivial skill. From the earliest written records in of western culture and earlier still slavery was acknowledged and accepted as a normal part of the social and economic structure. That is a span of around 5,000 years. The first serious but faint questionings began less than 500 years ago. Another 200 years passed before there were any organized political move to abolish slavery. For nearly all human history the was noting peculiar about the “peculiar institution”; few gave it much thought except perhaps how to avoid it for themselves.If you were to take a time machine back to the period just before 1500 and ask and seek to discuss the evils of slavery with an educated European, chances are they wouldn’t understand what you were talking about. You would not understand their lack of understanding. This book explains the acceptance of slavery was a consequence of radically different understandings of nature and society and religion. In short, we and our ancestors of 500+ years back might as well be aliens from different planets.This book, then, is not a history of slavery but a history of how the western world thought about it. I found this a slow read but not from boredom. Rather every few pages I had to stop and try to get my head around the ideas that are under discussion. Ancient philosophy not to mention theology are not really “my thing” so it took some effort. I suggest you read this book with your IPad nearby in order to access the Wikipedia and other sources. The author provides numerous footnotes and citations which temp diversions and excursions.The book ends in the decade just before the American Revolution. Although the author doesn’t say as much, it is fairly obvious that the forces leading to the founding of the abolitionist movement, (the French Enlightenment, the Great Awakening and the outcome of the Seven Years War) were also the forces leading to the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Wonderfully informative, and seems to be written as intended: to provide a foundation for understanding slavery in the United States. In this book Davis reveals that the modern notion that American slavery was sui generis can only be maintained by an ignorance of history. Because Davis is not just a historian, but a moral philosopher as well, he examines attitudes toward slavery down through history. Though he does not say so, one can conclude that presence of emancipation and equality as widespread social ideals are unprecedented in history. I look forward to reading the next volume in Davis's trilogy on the problem of slavery.

The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture by David Brion Davis, first published in 1967, is a masterpiece; one of the full works I would not hesitate to recommend to someone. A study not only of slavery, but of religion and philosophy.

Seminal work on perspectives on slavery’s first 200 years in America.

Even though this is a scholarly book, it is very readable. What I learned about slavery is that the thinking that perpetuated it for many thousands of years is still with us. Slavery flourished long before Classical Greece. Then Aristotle "reasoned" that some people were meant to be slaves. It became the norm in Western Culture. Most people believed this was just the way the world worked. This view was never seriously challenged until the mid eighteenth century. The book taught me that just because something is a tradition, be it religious or otherwise, does not make it right. It also taught me that the we as a culture have not yet overcome slavery.

This work won the 1967 Pulitzer prize for general non-fiction. Since other winners of that prize, e.g., The Guns of August(in 1963), The Making of the President, 1960,(in 1962--the first Pulitzer in this category) The Rising Sun (in 1971), and The Making of the Atomic Bomb (in 1988) have been very enjoyable reads, I decided to read this work. The topic is of interest,, but the author grubs in pre-1776 writing a lot, and I did not find I was caught up in the subject, important tho it is. The treatment is deep in theory, and intellectual history, and while at times this has interested me, I could not find myself enamored by the book--which is a reflection on me, not on the very erudite author.

As other reviewers say, this scholarly book emphasizes intellectual history and attitudes (including Christian justification) toward slavery. The author describes the beliefs of Greek philosophers most of us will never have heard of, writings of English, French, and German philosophers, justifications for slavery in the bible, justifications based on Christian beliefs. He traces the gradual development of abolitionist thought. The author will refer back to a philosopher or person whose beliefs were mentioned chapters ago, with only a very brief summary of those beliefs. He provides very limited information on legislation related to slavery and the actual conduct of slavery, but information on African practices leading to the taking and selling of slaves is interesting. Thus, this book is written for historian scholars, not for the average reader. It perhaps should be noted that the primary coverage is the period to approximately 1775, with a few references to later events; later books in this series cover the later period.

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY AND ANTI-SLAVERY. THE AUTHOR, WITHOUT QUESTION ONE OF OUR GREATEST HISTORIANS OF THE SUBJECT, GOES BEYOND THE ARTIFICIAL LINE OF THE CALANDER IN RELATION TO OUR CIVIL WAR AND OFFERS AN INSIGHTFUL VIEW OF THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY IN THE PERIOD LEADING UP TO THE FOUNDING OF OUR COUNTRY. tHIS IS A GREAT BOOK FOR THE SERIOUS STUDENT, NOT FOR THE CASUAL READER.