Ben Waber reviewed The half has never been told by Edward E. Baptist
A Powerful, Wandering History
4 stars
This book is an important, impressive work of scholarship that combines personal accounts with macro perspective to demonstrate the importance of slavery in driving US economic growth. In addition, Baptist repeatedly demonstrates how the protection and expansion of slavery was baked into US systems of governance. I would have looked to see more quantitative data and analysis, and their are entertaining but ultimately distracting asides and flowery prose that aren't my cup of tea. Overall this is still a great book that is unfortunately more relevant than ever. Highly recommend
This book is an important, impressive work of scholarship that combines personal accounts with macro perspective to demonstrate the importance of slavery in driving US economic growth. In addition, Baptist repeatedly demonstrates how the protection and expansion of slavery was baked into US systems of governance. I would have looked to see more quantitative data and analysis, and their are entertaining but ultimately distracting asides and flowery prose that aren't my cup of tea. Overall this is still a great book that is unfortunately more relevant than ever. Highly recommend
