Economic Consequences of the Atlantic Slave Trade - by Barbara L Solow (Paperback)

About the Book

The Economic Consequences of the Atlantic Slave Trade places the sugar/slave/plantation complex of the British West Indies at the center of the Atlantic trading system, uniting the economies of western Europe, Africa, North America, and the Caribbean, and leading to the Indust...

Book Synopsis

The Economic Consequences of the Atlantic Slave Trade places the sugar/slave/plantation complex of the British West Indies at the center of the Atlantic trading system, uniting the economies of western Europe, Africa, North America, and the Caribbean, and leading to the Industrial Revolution in England. It will interest teachers and scholars of Atlantic history, Africa, the British Empire, New England, the Industrial Revolution, abolition, and emancipation.

Review Quotes

Barbara Solow is a pioneer in the study of the economics of the slave trade and of slavery itself. Her penetrating, quizzical essays on Eric Williams' view of slavery's contribution to capitalism as well as her other studies of slavery and the growth of capitalism are brought together in this volume and thus given the permanent place in the literature that they deserve.

Solow's book...will give students an interesting and useful introduction to examining major aspects of the history of slavery and the way it effected (and was affected by) its role in the world economy.

The essays gathered in this volume examine the relation of slavery and capitalism over long historical time. In them Barbara Solow combines the analytical rigor of an economist and the sensitivity to social and political context of an historian. Her comprehensive temporal and geographical scope together with her uncommonly broad vision, originality, and insight deepen our understanding of old problems and provide new questions for further inquiry. They will be necessary reading for students of slavery, capitalism, and the Atlantic world.

These papers by Barbara Solow on capitalism and slavery have radically altered our view of the whole subject of the role of the Atlantic slave trade in relation to the British Industrial Revolution and to the evolution of capitalism as a global system. They provide not only the most vigorous and successful defense of the still highly controversial 'Williams Thesis' that we have in the literature, but go well beyond that thesis itself in placing the entire historical episode in a global context that is more extended in both space and time.

About the Author

Barbara L. Solow retired from the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University after having taught economics at Brandeis University and Boston University.