Between 1492 and 1820; about two-thirds of the people who crossed the Atlantic to the Americas were Africans. With the exception of the Spanish; all the European empires settled more Africans in the New World than they did Europeans. The vast majority of these enslaved men and women worked on plantations; and their labor was the foundation for the expansion of the Atlantic economy during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Until relatively recently; comparatively little attention was paid to the perspectives; daily experiences; hopes; and especially the political ideas of the enslaved who played such a central role in the making of the Atlantic world. Over the past decades; however; huge strides have been made in the study of the history of slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic world. This collection brings together some of the key contributions to this growing body of scholarship; showing a range of methodological approaches; that can be used to understand and reconstruct the lives of these enslaved people.
#1761199 in Books 2002-07-14 2002-08-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 11.69 x .83 x 8.27l; 1.11 #File Name: 0415933188368 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. I have sought a book like this and finally found itBy David E. MeachamI have sought a book like this and finally found it. A non biased view of the downfall of the soviet union from a viewpoint that is not compromised by the neoliberal point of view. Beautiful book and I am very pleased with this purchase.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. like slavery and feudalism before itBy Steven W. CooperResnich and Wolff have used Marx's class theory of surplus value as a lens through which to evaluate the USSR from the 1917 Bolshevik revolution through its collapse and dissolution around 1990.This theory says that capitalism; like slavery and feudalism before it; is an exploitive system because the people who do the actual work that generates profit are not the ones who appropriate and distribute that same profit. Communism; the theory continues; is a system where the people who do the work are the same people who appropriate and distribute the profits from that work.Using this theory and its class implications; the authors conclude that aside from some agricultural collectives begun in the '30s; communism was never really installed in the USSR. Instead; a form of state capitalism was achieved that never really conceived its goal as communistic in Marx's sense. Instead; the ideal was state-controlled distribution as opposed to market-based; and abolition of private property. While lip-service was paid to acting in the worker's best interests; the system never actually gave individual workers any say over the disposition of the fruits of their labor. As such; what successive generations (in the USSR and the West as well) were taught was a communistic society; was actually an exploitive system where the state (as opposed to private enterprise in the West) appropriated and distributed the profits.The conclusions painstakingly developed in this book reinforce the intuitive feeling one gets studying the Cold War or observing the two-party system in modern US politics: that the main ideological differences between the two sides are a sham and distraction from Marx's more fundamental dichotomy. The opposition between exploitive and non-exploitive systems.25 of 26 people found the following review helpful. Paradigm-alteringBy Asatar Bair"Class Theory and History" is an amazing study of the Soviet Union that goes well beyond the study of one society's experience. The book is about the class structure of the Soviet Union; but the way the analysis is conducted makes it clear that the questions Resnick and Wolff raise about class theory are applicable to all societies; and their particular answers in the Soviet case yield fascinating insights that have not been understood this clearly before.Wolff and Resnick have written at length about economic theory and methodology; and this work shows their use of class theory and overdetermination. The nuance and sophistication of their analysis is remarkable; their prose touches on the ideals and tragedies of the Soviet experience; the promise and the betrayal of that promise. At the same time; they write with urgency about the successes of the Soviet Union; particularly in the one area that most economists have argued was their greatest failure: agriculture.This book is highly recommended for all students of economic history; the Soviet Union; and class theory.
