Description
In this sequel to his landmark study, historian Peter Kolchin compares the transition to freedom after American emancipation with the Russian Great Reforms
"An enlightening comparative history. . . . Often revelatory for those who may think of the emancipation of enslaved Americans as an almost unique event."-Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street Journal
The two largest transitions from unfree to free labor of the many that occurred in Europe and the Americas during the nineteenth century took place in the United States and in Russia. Both occurred in the 1860s, and in both the former slaves and serfs strove to maximize their autonomy and freedom while the former masters worked to preserve as many of their prerogatives as possible. Both were partially-but only partially-successful.
In this magisterial and long-awaited work, historian Peter Kolchin shows that a more radical break with the past was possible in the United States than in Russia, with the Southern freedpeople coming to enjoy republican citizenship, whereas Russian peasants remained subjects rather than citizens. Both countries saw conservative reactions triumph in the late nineteenth century. While this conservatism was common in most emancipations, it was especially strong in Russia and the American South, in part as a reaction against the major efforts to restructure the social order that went by the name of Reconstruction in the United States and the Great Reforms in Russia.
About the Author
Peter Kolchin is the Henry Clay Reed Professor, emeritus, at the University of Delaware. His books include Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom; American Slavery, 1619-1877; and First Freedom: The Responses of Alabama's Blacks to Emancipation and Reconstruction. He lives in Newark, DE.
Reviews
"An enlightening comparative history. . . . Often revelatory for those who may think of the emancipation of enslaved Americans as an almost unique event."-Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street Journal
"A groundbreaking comparative study of the abolition of American slavery and Russian serfdom; Peter Kolchin has put forward a powerful argument for the uniqueness of the process, experience and legacy of emancipation in the United States."-Enrico Dal Lago, author of Civil War and Agrarian Unrest: The Confederate South and Southern Italy
"Comparative history at its best, Peter Kolchin's Emancipation reinvigorates the long-standing debate on the transition from coerced to free labor. It is a brilliant contribution to our understanding of how capitalism came into being."-Roberto Saba, author of American Mirror: The United States and Brazil in the Age of Emancipation
"A superb, sweeping portrait of the global dimensions of emancipation and the conflict over free labor. Kolchin tells a comparative story of the democratic US and tsarist Russia-how death came to slavery and serfdom, how freedpeople drove transformations of the social and economic order, but how equality remained elusive for those who worked the land in both countries, rendering their worlds eerily alike."-Amy Dru Stanley, author of From Bondage to Contract: Wage Labor, Marriage and the Market in the Age of Slave Emancipation
Book Information
ISBN 9780300273663
Author Peter Kolchin
Format Hardback
Page Count 568
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
"An enlightening comparative history. . . . Often revelatory for those who may think of the emancipation of enslaved Americans as an almost unique event."-Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street Journal
The two largest transitions from unfree to free labor of the many that occurred in Europe and the Americas during the nineteenth century took place in the United States and in Russia. Both occurred in the 1860s, and in both the former slaves and serfs strove to maximize their autonomy and freedom while the former masters worked to preserve as many of their prerogatives as possible. Both were partially-but only partially-successful.
In this magisterial and long-awaited work, historian Peter Kolchin shows that a more radical break with the past was possible in the United States than in Russia, with the Southern freedpeople coming to enjoy republican citizenship, whereas Russian peasants remained subjects rather than citizens. Both countries saw conservative reactions triumph in the late nineteenth century. While this conservatism was common in most emancipations, it was especially strong in Russia and the American South, in part as a reaction against the major efforts to restructure the social order that went by the name of Reconstruction in the United States and the Great Reforms in Russia.
About the Author
Peter Kolchin is the Henry Clay Reed Professor, emeritus, at the University of Delaware. His books include Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom; American Slavery, 1619-1877; and First Freedom: The Responses of Alabama's Blacks to Emancipation and Reconstruction. He lives in Newark, DE.
Reviews
"An enlightening comparative history. . . . Often revelatory for those who may think of the emancipation of enslaved Americans as an almost unique event."-Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street Journal
"A groundbreaking comparative study of the abolition of American slavery and Russian serfdom; Peter Kolchin has put forward a powerful argument for the uniqueness of the process, experience and legacy of emancipation in the United States."-Enrico Dal Lago, author of Civil War and Agrarian Unrest: The Confederate South and Southern Italy
"Comparative history at its best, Peter Kolchin's Emancipation reinvigorates the long-standing debate on the transition from coerced to free labor. It is a brilliant contribution to our understanding of how capitalism came into being."-Roberto Saba, author of American Mirror: The United States and Brazil in the Age of Emancipation
"A superb, sweeping portrait of the global dimensions of emancipation and the conflict over free labor. Kolchin tells a comparative story of the democratic US and tsarist Russia-how death came to slavery and serfdom, how freedpeople drove transformations of the social and economic order, but how equality remained elusive for those who worked the land in both countries, rendering their worlds eerily alike."-Amy Dru Stanley, author of From Bondage to Contract: Wage Labor, Marriage and the Market in the Age of Slave Emancipation
Book Information
ISBN 9780300273663
Author Peter Kolchin
Format Hardback
Page Count 568
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
