Reckoning with Slavery

Résumé du livre

"'Time on the cross' rocked the academic world in 1974 when authors Robert William Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman claimed that new methods of historical research called cliometrics had 'revealed' that the institution of slavery was economically efficient and socially benign. Now a group of historians expert in the use of quantitative techniques refute those assertions by exposing the many factural and logical errors on which they were based. 'Reckoning with slavery' brings together contributions by ... economists prominently identified with the 'new economic history' ... Their book discards the rose-tinted glasses through which slavery was viewed in 'Time on the cross' and tries to show what the methods of the social sciences can (and cannot) tell us about a painful and complex chapter of American history. It puts the debate over the nature of slavery into a broader, more critical perspective and provides new insights ... "--From book jacket (front flap view only).