Inhuman Bondage

Very Useful Contribution

This book will shock many who know little about the enslavement of Africans. Although the book addresses the enslavement of other peoples and also the system of indenture, it does so largely to give colour to its discussion about the enslavement of Africans and the creation and perpetuation of ant-Black racism. There is so much material about this period in history that I wish that Audible would make more material available. There is a slew of material on Audible about the Revolutionary War and the Civil War but most of it is told from the perspectives of great men or the battlefield. While it commences before the Revolutionary War, this book speaks to some of the most important social forces that gave rise to those wars and that indeed have given rise to modern America.

While some of the material in the book has been well covered elsewhere, some of it is rare and rarer yet have been attempts to bring to together a number of the disparate parts under this cover. The book is extremely well read.

38 people found this helpful

A History That I Learned Nowhere Else

What did you love best about Inhuman Bondage?

This book taught me more about the history of slavery than I have learned in a lifetime. It's a fascinating story, with perspective about the story of slavery that I thoroughly enjoyed learning. Slavery has been interwoven in the human experience for thousands of years, but the evolution and development of race slavery was a special case. This book is one of the best and most interesting history books that I read or listened to.

What about Raymond Todd’s performance did you like?

Todd has a great reading voice. I enjoyed listening to him.

10 people found this helpful

A historically rigorous portrait of slavery

This is a wonderful and fascinating book which paints a detailed portrait of the intellectual and economic history of slavery in the new world. For me, Davis' dry style adds force to his treatment of the repellant subject. This book is relatively sparse on details of slave's everyday lives, instead it focuses on the ways in which the forced labor of African slaves was essential for the profitability of New World colonies and their successors, especially the American South. I believe that this focus prevents the reader from viewing slavery as the aberrant work of a few slave owning sadists and forces her to grapple with its foundational importance to the U.S. and other New World nations. This book ought to be part of every High School history curriculum.

4 people found this helpful

I learned many new things

A story clearly told full of the twists and turns that defy a straight (and narrow) understanding of our history. Thoroughly enjoyable.

3 people found this helpful

Excellent, but focused on English-speaking regions

I wish the author would have dived more deeply into slavery in Latin America as the title suggests, and that's why I gave it a 4 star review. Other than that the book is a masterpiece on the phenomenon of slavery in North America and the British West Indies as well as the origins of New World slavery in the XVI century.

2 people found this helpful

Looking objectively at a dark prieod of history

Would you listen to Inhuman Bondage again? Why?

I would like to listen to some parts again to refresh my memory in certain events.

What did you like best about this story?

It gives an overall picture of slavery in history. It is a thought provoking story. Humans can be very inhuman towards other living beings including humans. Even today slavery exists in less cruel forms, especially in the form of various exploitative situations.

Which scene was your favorite?

Civil war description.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Inhuman treatment to slaves by way of physical punishments are very sad.

Any additional comments?

This is a good source of information for any person who is interested in history.

3 people found this helpful

Soup to Nuts

Pretty good read on Slavery in the Americas leading up to the Civil War. The book covers the highlights from soups to nuts. Objective and informative.

7 people found this helpful

All you didn't know

An excellent explanation of the origins of slavery, the progress that has been made. It eludes to what remains to be addressed and come to terms with the legacy of that terrible institution.

Just wow

I learned more in 16:38:12 than in the whole of my 45 years combined. Highly recommended

Dry but informational

I picked up this audiobook because I have always struggled to understand the Southern obsession with pre-war culture and history. This book did a great job of explaining the prevailing political, cultural and social pressures that kept slavery in place for so long as well as those pressures that helped to end this most appalling practice in the US and globally. However, the target audience of the book should ideally have a firm grasp on American history and should not expect an emotional analysis of the evils of slavery. Rather, this title reads like a coldly rational text book, but it also contains more information than a more anthropocentric analysis of slavery would provide.