{"product_id":"the-alchemy-of-slavery-9780812250466","title":"The Alchemy of Slavery","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this sweeping saga that spans empires, peoples, and nations, M. Scott Heerman chronicles the long history of slavery in the heart of the continent and traces its many iterations through law and social practice. Arguing that slavery had no fixed institutional form, Heerman traces practices of slavery through indigenous, French, and finally U.S. systems of captivity, inheritable slavery, lifelong indentureship, and the kidnapping of free people. By connecting the history of indigenous bondage to that of slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic world, Heerman shows how French, Spanish, and Native North American practices shaped the history of slavery in the United States.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Alchemy of Slavery\u003c\/i\u003e foregrounds the diverse and adaptable slaving practices that masters deployed to build a slave economy in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, attempting to outmaneuver their antislavery opponents. In time, a formidable cast of lawyers and antislavery activists set their sights on \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\"For a book so ambitious in scope, \u003ci\u003eThe Alchemy of Slavery\u003c\/i\u003edelivers its punch in a slim volume.\" * \u003ci\u003eJournal of American History\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Alchemy of Slavery\u003c\/i\u003e announces a new moment in grounding studies of the interpenetrations of slavery with settler colonialism.\" * \u003ci\u003eJournal of the Civil War Era\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"This is the most thorough account we have on slavery in Illinois and should be the standard for some time to come.\" * \u003ci\u003eJournal of the Early Republic\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Alchemy of Slavery\u003c\/i\u003e stands as a great addition to both Midwestern and Illinois historiography.\" * \u003ci\u003eCleveland Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"M. Scott Heerman provocatively muddies the waters, demonstrating how slavery survived in 'free' Illinois all the way through the Civil War. His reinterpretation does much to link the history of Middle America to the global history of slavery.\" * Christina Snyder, Penn State University *\u003cbr\u003e\"M. Scott Heerman offers much-needed and close scrutiny of the Illinois Country, a region that, because it straddled empires, labor systems, freedom, and slavery, opens up new understandings along a number of fronts, not least of which is the relationship between slavery's many iterations and the kind of freedoms those slaveries engendered. This book joins a growing body of scholarship that considers slavery and its legacies to be a national (versus a southern) problem, and which illuminates slavery as a historical process as opposed to a static and singular institution.\" * Susan Eva O'Donovan, University of Memphis *\u003cbr\u003e\"Ambitious and meticulously researched, \u003ci\u003eThe Alchemy of Slavery\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates the complex development of slavery and freedom in Illinois over more than a century. Heerman demonstrates the significance of local practices without neglecting broader developments in the French and British empires and in Washington, D.C. This book is wonderfully attentive to questions of geography and scale and makes a significant contribution to our understanding of colonial and early national North America.\" * Kate Masur, Northwestern University *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction. Slavery and Freedom on the American Continent\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Making the French Negroes\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Another Law and Empire\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Remaking the French Negroes\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Contesting Bondage in the Slave North\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Paths to Independence\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. Freedom Practices, Freedom Politics\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion. North of Slavery, South of Freedom\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405738090839,"sku":"9780812250466","price":35.1,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780812250466.jpg?v=1730493438","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-alchemy-of-slavery-9780812250466","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}