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American Slaves and African Masters: Algiers and the Western Sahara, 1776-1820 2012th Edition
Author(s): C. Sears (Author)
- Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
- Publication Date: 6 Sept. 2012
- Edition: 2012th
- Language: English
- Print length: 251 pages
- ISBN-10: 1137268662
- ISBN-13: 9781137268662
Book Description
Whether by falling prey to Algerian corsairs or crashing onto the desert shores of Western Sahara, a handful of Americans in the first years of the Republic found themselves enslaved in a system that differed so markedly from nineteenth century U.S. slavery that some contemporaries and modern scholars hesitate to categorize their experiences as 'slavery.' Sears uses a comparative approach, placing African enslavement of Americans and Europeans in the context of Mediterranean and Ottoman slaveries, while individually investigating the system of slavery in Algiers and Western Sahara. This work illuminates the commonalities and peculiarities of these slaveries, while contributing to a growing body of literature that showcases the flexibility of slavery as an institution.
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Sears presents a highly readable history of the 140 American captives of corsairs in Algiers or from shipwrecks. Recommended." - CHOICE
About the Author
Christine Sears is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.
