Contradictory statements, sweeping generalizations, and a general lack of focus make this history of slavery more an eye-glazer than an eye-opener. After asserting that "more often than not, slave and master were of the same ethnic or cultural group," Watkins (Gladiator, 1997) proceeds to note that the ancient Greeks, Romans, West African kingdoms, medieval Italians, Muslims, and, of course, European settlers in the Americas, all imported their slaves from elsewhere. He also mentions indentured labor in some cultures but not in America, is silent on the history of slavery in most Asian countries, and confuses the "Triangle Trade" that included European goods and ports with another triangle that did not. Except for occasional quoted or paraphrased passages from a handful of slave narratives, he seldom names specific sources for his information, and the pitifully inadequate eight-item bibliography isn't going to be much help to readers who want to delve more deeply into the subject. The drab, low-contrast illustrations feature sad-faced figures in mannered mini-dramas with captions like, "Greek warriors lead a captured girl and her baby into slavery," or "The Taino Indians would regret meeting Columbus." A final chapter on modern child slavery, including a short profile of murdered young activist Iqbal Masih, gives this a topical leg up on Ofosu-Appiah's People in Bondage: A World History of Slavery (1993), but Watkins has turned a heart- and gut-wrenching subject into a clumsy, extended term paper. (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-395-92289-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
trike” in New York City and the fate of the sharecroppers in the southern cotton industry, the garment and coal mining industries loom as the real villains in child labor issues. Bartoletti provides numerous examples of how debilitating poverty drove entire families to work in utter squalor and suffer cruel treatment at the hands of profit-driven conglomerates. Personal stories illuminate the wretched conditions under which many of these children labored, with a focus on the instances when a child mobilized fellow workers to demand their rights. The grit and determination of these children who, in the face of police abuse, bureaucratic negligence, and governmental (even presidential) indifference, banded together for a common cause, and the startling black-and-white photographs, ensure that readers will be alternately awed and appalled by this stunning account of child labor in the US. (bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-88892-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
Just in time for the millennium comes this adaptation of Jennings and Brewster’s The Century (1998). Still a browsable, coffee-table edition, the book divides the last 100 years more or less by decade, with such chapter headings as “Shell Shock,” “Global Nightmare,” and “Machine Dreams.” A sweeping array of predominantly black-and-white photographs documents the story in pictures—from Theodore Roosevelt to O.J., the Panama Canal to the crumbling Berlin Wall, the dawn of radio to the rise of Microsoft—along with plenty of captions and brief capsules of historical events. Setting this volume apart, and making it more than just a glossy textbook overview of mega-events, are blue sidebars that chronicle the thoughts, actions, and attitudes of ordinary men, women, and children whose names did not appear in the news. These feature-news style interviews feature Milt Hinton on the Great Migration, Betty Broyles on a first automobile ride, Sharpe James on the effect of Jackie Robinson’s success on his life, Clara Hancox on growing up in the Depression, Marnie Mueller on life as an early Peace Corps volunteer, and more. The authors define the American century by “the inevitability of change,” a theme reflected in the selection of photographs and interviews throughout wartime and peacetime, at home and abroad. While global events are included only in terms of their impact on Americans, this portfolio of the century is right for leafing through or for total immersion. (index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-385-32708-0
Page Count: 245
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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