The Comparative Histories of Slavery in Brazil, Cuba, and the United States, and: Slavery, Emancipation, and Freedom: Comparative Perspectives (review)

The findings of the scholarship that underlies the study of slavery are in considerable need of comparative study. Because of the great strides that are being made in the reconstruction of the history of the African dias-pora, periodic assessments of current trends and future possibilities are essential. However, such efforts at comparison are faced with the real dangers of synthesizing the wrong things too quickly and missing major advances in scholarship. In the case of the two books under review, this problem is front and center. Both books reflect the efforts of leading scholars to share their vast knowledge and insights. Bergad’s stated purpose is to integrate new interdisciplinary knowledge about three major slave societies—Cuba, Brazil, and the United States (why not Puerto Rico?)—in a digestible form for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and the general public. Engerman’s book is an attempt to formalize a series of public lectures that were intended to provide a comparative overview of slavery and emancipation for an informed but a nonspecialist audience.

Both books turn out to be interesting but ultimately unsatisfactory efforts at synthesis and analysis. Bergad’s and Engerman’s focus on economic themes and influences is not unwelcome; the economic dimensions of slavery are often misunderstood or otherwise misinterpreted. The authors provide a clear view of the profitability and technology of slavery, although neither of them seems to have pondered the paradox that even though economics prefers tranquility to violence, slavery was premised on violence. How did slavery become profitable in the face of economic unease?

In examining slavery in world perspective, Engerman devotes half of his short book to considering how slavery in the United States conformed to, and differed from, wider patterns. He clearly demonstrates that slavery was not peculiar to North America, although, in some respects, the experience of slavery in the southern United States during the nineteenth century was unique. His discussion is coherent, informative, and hence useful in summarizing debate and making the issues generally accessible. However, he does not pursue certain implications that can be drawn from what happened in the United States, where slavery ended in violence on a massive scale. The ending in itself is not necessarily distinctive. What is missing from Engerman’s account is a full exposition of the importance of race and the issues of cultural survival and regeneration, which dominate current research elsewhere. Engerman draws on the statistical materials of the voyage database generated by David Eltis and his associates, but he does not attempt to examine the implications of the new knowledge for migration patterns.

In textbook format, Bergad provides an effective overview of colonization and the rise of slavery as the primary system of production for each of his areas of study—North America (United States), Cuba, and Brazil, with some discussion of other parts of the Americas. Although Bergad conducted extensive research in Puerto Rico, he unfortunately does not include the history of slavery there; its similarities and differences might have been instructive within the context of broader patterns.

Bergad’s concentration on the nineteenth century highlights sig-nificant differences in the “mature” systems of slavery at a time when new technologies were being introduced to increase production, especially in Cuba and the United States. Engerman also identifies this significant development. The presentation of data regarding production, prices, investments, and demography in both books makes for an admirable introduction to the economics of slavery.

Where the two books do not achieve perspective is in relation to the people who actually suffered slavery. Engerman’s book is not at all concerned with slavery at the personal level, or with the cultural heritage of the enslaved. Bergad, however, attempts to use biographical accounts to give “voice” to...