This respectable though routine survey suffers by comparison with Meltzer's two volume study, Slavery I and II. Levine at least touches all the historical bases, and consistently distinguishes between the institutional status of slavery and the actual conditions in various cultures: the Romans, and to a lesser degree the Brazilians, gave slaves some legal status while informally advancing the cause of human suffering. Unlike Meltzer, however, Levine includes no primary source material or summaries of historical controversies, and while his discussion of slavery and Reconstruction in America incorporates recent scholarship, it adds nothing to the readily available stock of information.