Ben Waber reviewed Soul by soul by Walter Johnson
A Moving but Somewhat Scattershot Examination of a Morally Deplorable Institution of the US
4 stars
Learning more about the slave market and the central role it played in the lives and social structure of enslaved people and white southerners is moving and gives important context to inequalities and racist attitudes/systems that persist to today. The dehumanization of so many people, and the way that the slave trade in particular was deeply engrained in the antebellum US south is rarely so viscerally illustrated as it is here. Johnson provides a thorough qualitative examination of the institution through a wide array of diaries, recorded interviews, and (notably) court cases.
The court case records are particularly disturbing and fascinating, as they show how deep into US government and jurisprudence slavery and the slave trade reached, as well as the depth of investment in the US in keeping this institution functional. It would have been much more instructive if these analyses were paired with more quantitative analyses of …
Learning more about the slave market and the central role it played in the lives and social structure of enslaved people and white southerners is moving and gives important context to inequalities and racist attitudes/systems that persist to today. The dehumanization of so many people, and the way that the slave trade in particular was deeply engrained in the antebellum US south is rarely so viscerally illustrated as it is here. Johnson provides a thorough qualitative examination of the institution through a wide array of diaries, recorded interviews, and (notably) court cases.
The court case records are particularly disturbing and fascinating, as they show how deep into US government and jurisprudence slavery and the slave trade reached, as well as the depth of investment in the US in keeping this institution functional. It would have been much more instructive if these analyses were paired with more quantitative analyses of these cases, as well as some of the other horrors documented in the slave markets themselves. Still, if you are in the mental space to learn about this essential but troubling topic I would highly recommend this book