In this Book

Life Interrupted: Trafficking into Forced Labor in the United States

Book
Denise Brennan
2014
Published by: Duke University Press
summary
Life Interrupted introduces us to survivors of human trafficking who are struggling to get by and make homes for themselves in the United States. Having spent nearly a decade following the lives of formerly trafficked men and women, Denise Brennan recounts in close detail their flight from their abusers and their courageous efforts to rebuild their lives. At once scholarly and accessible, her book links these firsthand accounts to global economic inequities and under-regulated and unprotected workplaces that routinely exploit migrant laborers in the United States. Brennan contends that today's punitive immigration policies undermine efforts to fight trafficking. While many believe trafficking happens only in the sex trade, Brennan shows that across low-wage labor sectors—in fields, in factories, and on construction sites—widespread exploitation can lead to and conceal forced labor. Life Interrupted is a riveting account of life in and after trafficking and a forceful call for meaningful immigration and labor reform.

All royalties from this book will be donated to the nonprofit Survivor Leadership Training Fund administered through the Freedom Network.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page, Copyright Page

pp. i-vi

Contents

pp. vii-viii

Acknowledgments

pp. ix-xii

Introduction. Starting Over

pp. 1-34

Part I. The Assault on Workers

pp. 35-36

Chapter 1. Dangerous Labor: Migrant Workers and Sex Workers

pp. 37-74

Chapter 2. Chains of Fear: The Subjectivity of Coercion

pp. 75-112

Part II. Life after Forced Labor

pp. 113-114

Chapter 3. Imagining the Possible: Creating Home

pp. 115-144

Chapter 4. Living the Possible: Settling into Home

pp. 145-162

Chapter 5. Laboring after Forced Labor

pp. 163-184

Closing Comments

pp. 185-192

Appendix: Ideas and Resources for Action

pp. 193-198

Notes

pp. 199-242

References

pp. 243-274

Index

pp. 275-289
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