A Brief History of Slavery: A New Global History

A thought-provoking and important book that raises essential issues crucial not only for understanding our past but also the present day.

In this panoramic history, Jeremy Black tells how slavery was first developed in the ancient world, and reaches all the way to the present in the form of contemporary crimes such as trafficking and bonded labour. He shows how slavery has taken many forms throughout history and across the world – from the uprising of Spartacus, the plantations of the West Indies, and the murderous forced labour of the gulags and concentration camps.

Slavery helped to consolidate transoceanic empires and helped mould new world societies such as America and Brazil. Black charts the long fight for abolition in the nineteenth century, looking at both the campaigners as well as the harrowing accounts of the enslaved themselves.

Slavery is still with us today, and coerced labour can be found closer to home than one might expect.

Jeremy Black is one of the UK’s most respected and prolific historians. He is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter and a renowned expert on the history of war. He is a Senior Fellow at both Policy Exchange and the Foreign Policy Research Institute. His recent books include Military Strategy: A Global History, A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps, Tank Warfare and The World of James Bond. He appears regularly on TV and radio, including BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time.