Through the Prism of Slavery - (World Social Change) by Dale W Tomich (Paperback)

About the Book

This thoughtful book explores the contested relationship between slavery and capitalism. Tracing slavery's integral role in the formation of a capitalist world economy, Dale W. Tomich reinterprets the development of the world economy through the "prism of slavery." Through a s...

Book Synopsis

This thoughtful book explores the contested relationship between slavery and capitalism. Tracing slavery's integral role in the formation of a capitalist world economy, Dale W. Tomich reinterprets the development of the world economy through the "prism of slavery." Through a sustained critique of Marxism, world-systems theory, and new economic history, the author develops an original conceptual framework for answering theoretical and historical questions about the nexus between slavery and the world economy.

Review Quotes

A provocatively illuminating book. This work opens new windows into the wider frameworks within which New World Slavery might be placed and better understood.

I commend the author for a well written and clearly organized text. . . . Tomich makes the reader rethink the totality of the relations of capital as presented by Marx.

Not only a stimulating and rich use of the Atlantic history framework, but a muscular defense of the validity, even the necessity, of world history as a serious methodological project that can begin to breach [the] theoretical void. . . . Tomich brings a rigourous and exacting focus to the capitalism and slavery debate with particular attention to the role of the Caribbean as a test case for the uneven historical trajectory of modernity. . . . The essays . . . make a compelling case for using a world history framework that should be read not only by Atlanticists, but by any modern historian. . . . For students of international economy, Tomich's work provides a historical context for current inequalities and development trajectories, and actively challenges any two-dimensional view of the world.

Recommended.

The thoughtful essays in this volume address the large-scale relationships of slavery and early modern capitalism.

Tomich's approach proves very fruitful. . . . Historical and comparative sociologists of all specializations will do well to come to terms with the many methodological and theoretical insights that Tomich offers throughout the book. . . . [Makes] outstanding contributions to historical sociology.

About the Author

Dale W. Tomich is professor of sociology and history at Binghamton University.