From Slavery to Agrarian Capitalism in the Cotton Plantation South: Central Georgia, 1800-1880
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Reidy has produced one of the most thoughtful treatments to date of a critical moment in southern history, placing the social transformation of the South in the context of 'the age of capital' and the changes in the markets, ideologies, etc. of the Atlantic world system. Better than anyone perhaps, Reidy has elaborated both the large and small narratives of this development, connecting global forces with the initiatives and reactions of ordinary southerners, black and white.Thomas C. Holt, University of ChicagoJoseph Reidy's detailed analysis of social and economic developments in central Georgia during and after slavery will take its place among the standard works on these subjects. Its discussions of the expansion of the cotton kingdom and of the changes after emancipation make it necessary reading for all concerned with southern and African-American history.Stanley Engerman, University of RochesterSuccessfully places the experience of one region's people into the larger theoretical context of world capitalist development and in the process challenges other scholars to do the same.Rural SociologyBooknewsReidy (history, Howard U.) examines the origins, growth and demise of slavery, illuminating the interplay between global economic developments and the lives of southerners of disparate classes (planters, slaves, yeomen), and featuring discussion of the role of African Americans as agents of historical change. With maps, 16 b&w photos, appendix, and an exhaustive bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction11The World of the Yeoman Settlers, 1800-1835142The World of the Planters, 1820s-1850s313The World of the Slaves, 1820s-1850s584Impending Crisis: The 1850s825The Civil War and the Demise of Slavery, 1861-18651086The Origins of Compensated Labor, 1865-18681367Creating a New Body Politic, 1865-18671618The Rise and Decline of Radical Republicanism, 1867-18721869Capitalist Transformation, 1872-1880215Conclusion: From Slavery to Agrarian Capitalism in Larger Perspective242Appendix249Notes253Bibliography315Index347
