“Slavery in Small Things” examines how slavery changed the
world in ways that most of us don’t think about- or even know about because
it’s ignored in textbooks. It was through slavery that cane sugar, tobacco, and
cotton plantations came about. That changed people’s dietary habits, created
smoking habits all over the world, and changed how people dressed. Slavery
allowed huge mahogany forests to be cut down and made into very popular
furniture- furniture that started out only in the homes of the very wealthy,
and now can be found in the homes of all economic strata. Cities in England
changed, with factories springing up to make that cheap cotton into fabric and to
forge the chains that held the slaves. Armed ports developed on the coast of
Africa, where slaves from the interior were held for the disgusting slave ships
to come get them. The western world economy changed because of this
exploitation and torture of people.
This is a short, fast read, in easy to understand language.
Things did get repeated at times, almost like the chapters were first written
as separate articles, but I don’t think this is the case. I feel this book
should be in all high school curriculum.
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I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program.
Neither of these things influenced my review.
This does indeed sound like a useful book for examining a slice of history. I always like to follow the trail and the why of things.
ReplyDeleteThis does indeed sound like a useful book for examining a slice of history. I always like to follow the trail and the why of things.
ReplyDelete