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Staff Pick
The Other Slavery is an eye-opening read about the enslavement of Native Americans which persisted for hundreds of years throughout North and Central America. Because this history has been so often denied, The Other Slavery is an important and enlightening book for anyone interested in either history or social justice movements. Recommended By Ashleigh B., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet, as Andres Resendez illuminates in his myth-shattering The Other Slavery, it was practiced for centuries as an open secret. There was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors. Resendez builds the incisive case that it was mass slavery, more than epidemics, that decimated Indian populations across North America. Through riveting new evidence, including testimonies of courageous priests, rapacious merchants, and Indian captives, The Other Slavery reveals nothing less than a key missing piece of American history. For over two centuries we have fought over, abolished, and tried to come to grips with African-American slavery. It is time for the West to confront an entirely separate, equally devastating enslavement we have long failed truly to see.
Review
"Beautifully written.... A tour de force." Chronicle of Higher Education
Review
"Arguably one of the most profound contributions to North American history published since Patricia Nelson Limerick's Legacy of Conquest." Los Angeles Times
Review
"A necessary work that occupies a loaded historical landscape... An object lesson in the trickle-down horrors of colonialism." NPR
About the Author
Andrés Reséndez is a professor and historian at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, which Carolyn See called "impossible to put down" (Washington Post Book World). He lives in Davis, California.