Peculiar Institution

“A thoughtful, deeply moving book….Mr. Stampp wants to show specifically what slavery was like, why it existed, and what it did to the American people …. There is a massive impact to this book-made all the more effective by the fact that its author writes with a dispassionate and scholarly objectivity – which helps to make it one of the most valuable and memorable books ever written in this field.”– Bruce Catton

“In ten sparkling chapters the book details and illuminates every aspect of slavery….Slavery is viewed not as a method of regulating race relations, not as an arrangement that was in its essence paternalistic, but as a practical system of controlling and exploiting labor. How the slaves worked, how they resisted bondage, how they were disciplined, how they lived their lives in the quarters, and how they behaved toward each other and toward their masters are themes which receive full exploration…. The materials are handled with imagination and verve, the style is polished, the factual evidence is precise and accurate. Some scholars will disagree with the conclusions. No one can afford to disregard them.”– Frank W. Klingberg, American Historical Review

“The Peculiar Institution is one of the most important and provocative works on Southern history to appear in our generation.”– David Donald, Commentary

Kenneth M. Stampp was twice awarded John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships, held two fellowships at the Huntington Library, and has been a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. A specialist in nineteenth-century American history, he is the author of many books on that period, including The Era of Reconstruction. Mr. Stampp died in 2009.

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