Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People (2009)
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The Times "Book of the Week," May 2009: Review
To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today's Slaves (2008)
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Boys strapped to carpet looms in India, women trafficked into sex slavery across Europe and migrants imprisoned at gunpoint in the U.S. are just a few of the many forms of 21st-century slavery. There are 27 million slaves alive today, more than at any point in history. To Plead Our Own Cause contains 95 narratives by slaves from around the globe. Told in the words of slaves themselves, the narratives eloquently chronicle slavery's horrors, the process of becoming free and freedom's challenges. An introduction lays out the historical, economic, and political background to modern slavery, the literary tradition of the slave narrative, and ways we can end slavery today. Halting the contemporary slave trade is one of the great human rights issues of our time. But just as slavery is not over, neither is the will to achieve freedom. Putting the slave's voice back at the heart of the abolitionist movement, this book gives occasion for both action and hope.
American Protest Literature (2006)
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Outstanding Academic Title (2007), Choice and the ALA.
Meteor of War: The John Brown Story (2004)
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Few men in American history have been at once as glorified and maligned as John Brown. From his attack of the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in October 1859, as part of a scheme to free the slaves, Brown has been called a saint and sinner, rogue and redeemer, martyr and madman. Brown rebelled against the American government, and he murdered men in Kansas in order to end the murderous institution of slavery. He denounced war, but made war on his government in order to end an existing war for slavery. This anthology, which presents Brown's writings and diverse responses to his life and raid, offers a lens through which to analyze these tensions and contradictions. Extensive introductions to every source offer a close reading of language and provide full historical and biographical background. An introduction traces Brown's changing image across time -- a "John Brown Cycle." An afterword considers the possible futures of the John Brown mythology.