Atlantic Slave Trade Social and Cultural Impact on the...

Review of Herbert S. Klein, The Atlantic Slave Trade. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pp. CCXI, 211. by Cameron M. Cheung May 19, 2012 In The Atlantic Slave Trade Herbert Klein attempts to go into great detail of the inner workings of the slave trade: how it came to be, the parties involved, as well as the social and cultural impacts it had on the society. When thinking of the slave trade previous to this class, I would think to myself how low we as a humanity once became, and how many of African Americans were exploited to this awful set of events. After reading the book, those same thoughts still remained, however, due to Klein my understanding of the knowledge gave me greater insight into how complex the slave trade†¦show more content†¦The importance of the book is to show us readers what the Atlantic Slave trade was all about. The chapter titles, and the information that is reflected in each chapter really shows this. Chapter titles beginning with Slavery in Western Development, and ending with, The End of the Slave Trade, really show how the author wanted to really concentrate on the bigger picture, rather than one specific moment in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Throughout the book, I don t believe there were any major inconsistencies. I actually felt that Klein went deeper, and was most precise in his book. If the slave trade was profitable and the Africans were put to productive use in the Americas, then why did Europeans begin to attack the trade at the end of the eighteenth century and systemically terminate the participation of every European metropolis and American colony or republic in the nineteenth century? (188). Klein frequently used this strategy of posing a question at the beginning of the chapter, and then answering the same question throughout the rest of the chapter. Using this strategy, any inconsistencies were very infrequent, if none at all. All in all, there wouldn t be anything in the book that I would need explained more, the author presented the question himself, and provided enough information where I felt he answered the question, and more. Because of how tough this book was to read for myself I probably wouldn t recommend it toShow MoreRelatedThe Social, Cultural, and Economic Impact of Transatlantic Slave Trade714 Words   |  3 PagesThe Social, Cultural, and Economic Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Economic Incentives for Slavery Genery and Hogendorn (1974) proposed that the unlimited supply of land in the Americas demanded an unlimited supply of labor to maximize profits. Indentured servants from Europe were too few in number to exploit the amount of land available for development. 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