An excellent book that I would recommend to anyone who is not familiar with all of the myths surrounding slavery, and a review from
http://www.thbookservice.com/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6186: Myths of American Slavery by Kennedy, Walter D.
While modern Americans are unanimous in their condemnation of slavery as cruel, unjust, and contrary to our nation's basic creed of individual freedom, it must be acknowledged that, until about 150 years ago, upstanding citizens legally bought and sold other human beings in the United States. This appalling contradiction has inspired a host of incorrect and unjust myths about slavery that have, over time, been widely accepted as fact -- and which are exploited by liberals to advance their agenda. Armed with plentiful historical data, Walter D. Kennedy reveals the truth behind these myths, including:
MYTH: Slavery was an institution operated by white people for the oppression of black people
MYTH: Slavery was a system organized by Christians
MYTH: In America, slavery was uniquely Southern
MYTH: Slavery was a self-evident sin, and so recognized by the Christian Church
MYTH: Slavery was uncommon and very short-lived in the North, and had little economic impact there
MYTH: The North ended slavery because it was offensive to the moral character of Northerners
MYTH: The North offered the black man equality and brotherhood
MYTH: Black slaveholders only owned slaves who were related to them in order to free them from slavery to whites
MYTH: Secession was just a scheme by Southern slaveholders to protect their slave property
MYTH: Lincoln freed the slaves, and was an advocate of racial equality
MYTH: Racial discrimination and/or segregation is a legacy of Southern slavery
MYTH: The lives of modern African-Americans have been irreparably damaged by slavery, and therefore government-backed entitlements and reparations are owed to them
Make no mistake: Myths of American Slavery is not a defense of slavery, but instead a sincere attempt to defeat the spread of misrepresentations that continue to bedevil race relations and contaminate America's political landscape.
Who cares about another book that makes excuses for the inexcusable? What's the point? Slavery is over. Anyone with an education knows what happen, what didn't happen, what's truth and fiction. America does not need another excuse monger with a book explaining away American slavery. People will believe whatever they want to believe.
If the North was so terrible just as the South then why on earth did the underground railroad run to the NORTH? Since the quotes emphasis the North so much, I take it this book is written by a Southerner with a chip on his/her shoulder about the North. I grew up in the North but I knew that people had slaves up North. But you can't compare North and South... Boy that's a 5000 post thread waiting to happen isn't it?
MYTH: Slavery was uncommon and very short-lived in the North, and had little economic impact there.
The North didn't rely on on slavery for it's economic survival.
MYTH: The North ended slavery because it was offensive to the moral character of Northerners.
It wasn't an official position but there were something like 5,000 anti-slavery organizations in the North.
MYTH: Lincoln freed the slaves,...
I guess it is a myth since it was the Union Army that did the actual act of freeing the southern slaves. The amendment came later.
MYTH: Secession was just a scheme by Southern slaveholders to protect their slave property.
I don't know about the other slave states but five slave states wrote Declaration of Secessions and slavery was the most repeated reason.