Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South

ISBN-13: 9781316635438 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 371 str.

Keri Leigh Merritt

Opis

This book examines the lives of the Antebellum South's underprivileged whites in nineteenth-century America.

Recenzje

'… the lesson to be drawn from Merritt's magnificent work is that the problem of justice requires enormous bridge-building exercises if we wish to level the playing field without worsening other forms of inequality. History shows us the limits of ideological progress, but also reveals opportunities that can be seized, if only we can muster the courage and the know-how.' Robert L. Tsai, Los Angeles Review of Books

Spis treści

Introduction: the second degree of slavery; 1. The Southern origins of the Homestead Act; 2. The demoralization of labor; 3. Masterless (and militant) white workers; 4. Everyday life: material realities; 5. Literacy, education, and disfranchisement; 6. Vagrancy, alcohol, and crime; 7. Poverty and punishment; 8. Race, Republicans, and vigilante violence; 9. Class crisis and the Civil War; Conclusion: a duel emancipation; Appendix: numbers, percentages, and the census.