The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism

Slavery is often presented as a premodern institution with little relation to American’s later successes. In what ways is this an inaccurate analysis of slavery’s significance to the United States?

How does the symbol of the “coffle-chain” help to show how the “new slavery” of the cotton economy differed from earlier models of slavery?

Enslaved people’s resistance to slavery is one of the book’s key themes. What forms does this resistance take, and how is solidarity key to them?

Charles Ball appears in several of the book’s chapters. How does Baptist use Ball’s story to illuminate different aspects of slavery?

Why is the description of enslaved people as “hands” symbolically significant?

Discussions of slavery often focus on the South while presenting the North as an anti-racist, enlightened society determined to achieve emancipation. How is this view misleading?

Why does Baptist insist that enslavers’ use of torture is central to understanding slavery’s ever-expanding growth and efficiency?

In what ways does Joe Kilpatrick help to reveal the alternative models of masculinity developed by many enslaved African-American men?