ABSTRACT

Seymour Drescher’s regular, deeply-thought and carefully nuanced arguments have periodically reshaped how we think of the subject of the history of slavery itself. He has discussed the impact of economic and cultural factors on human behaviour and has shown that historical evidence does not lead to easy answers. He has changed the way in which we now look at abolitionism and has destroyed the linear explanation of economic decline. This books gathers together some of Drescher’s key essays in the field.

chapter 2|26 pages

The Shocking Birth of British Abolitionism

chapter 5|22 pages

Women’s Mobilization in the Era of Slave Emancipation

Some Anglo-French Comparisons

chapter 7|24 pages

Liberty, Equality, Humanity

Antislavery and Civil Society in Britain and France

chapter 8|20 pages

Emperors of the World

British Abolitionism and Imperialism

chapter 10|26 pages

Civil Society and Paths to Abolition

chapter 11|16 pages

Abolition and Civil Society: West and East

chapter 12|20 pages

Britain, India and Bondage, Part One

Birth of the “Slow Death of Slavery”

chapter 13|20 pages

Britain, India and Bondage Part Two

Indentured Emigration