Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem

In her new book, well-known Africanist Suzanne Miers places modern slavery in its historical context, tracing the phenomenal development of the international anti-slavery movement over the last hundred years. She demonstrates how the problems of eradication seem greater and more intractable today than they had ever been, showing how slavery has expanded to include newer forms from 1919 to 2000, some of them crueler than the chattel slavery so familiar to the public mind. Miers describes the targets of ongoing anti-slavery campaigns, including forced labor, forced prostitution, forced marriage, the exploitation of child labor and of migrant and contract labor. She centers her story on Great Britain's efforts to suppress the slave trade since the late eighteenth century, and draws upon her extensive work in Africa, where slavery has attracted the greatest humanitarian and international attention. This book is a valuable resource for those interested in world history, slavery, race and ethnic history, international human rights, and labor in the world economy.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Chapter 1: The Rise of the British Antislavery Movement Chapter 3 Chapter 2: Forging a Treaty Network Against the Slave Trade Chapter 4 Chapter 3: Emancipation in Theory and Practice Chapter 5 Chapter 4: From Slavery to New Forms of Exploitation Chapter 6 Chapter 5: New International Machinery Chapter 7 Chapter 6: Ethiopia, The League of Nations, and Slavery Chapter 8 Chapter 7: Slavery in Hijaz Chapter 9 Chapter 8: The Temporary Slavery Commission and the Expanding Definition of Slavery Chapter 10 Chapter 9: The Slavery Convention of 1926 Chapter 11 Chapter 10: The International Labor Organization and the Forced Labour Convention Chapter 12 Chapter 11: The League of Nations and Slavery in the British Empire Chapter 13 Chapter 12:The Problems of a Moral Foreign Policy 1925-1932 Chapter 14 Chapter 13: The Committee of Experts on Slavery Chapter 15 Chapter 14: The Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery Chapter 16 Chapter 15: Slavery in a Changing World 1932-39: Ethiopia Chapter 17 Chapter 16: Slavery in a Changing World: 1932-1939: Arabia, The Red Sea and Persian Gulf Chapter 18 Chapter 17: The Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery 1936-1939 Chapter 19 Chapter 18: The Slavery Question from 1939 to 1949 Chapter 20 Chapter 19: The Cold War and the Supplementary Slavery Convention of 1956 Chapter 21 Chapter 20: The End of Slavery in Arabia and the Persian Gulf 1950-1970 Chapter 22 Chapter 21: Slavery at the United Nations 1956-1966 Chapter 23 Chapter 22: The Final Struggle for a United Nations Slavery Commmittee 1966-1974 Chapter 24 Chapter 23: Epilogue: The UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery Chapter 25 Chapter 24: Contemporary Forms of Slavery Chapter 26 Chapter 25: Conclusion: The Anti-Slavery Campaign in the Twentieth Century Chapter 27 Bibliography

About the Author :
Suzanne Miers is emerita professor of African history at Ohio University. She has also taught at the Universities of Wisconsin, London, and Malaya (Singapore). She is the author of Britain and the Ending of the Slave Trade and numerous articles. She co-edited with Igor Kopytoff, Slavery in Africa, with Martin Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa, with Richard Roberts, The End of Slavery in Africa, and with Maria Jaschok, Women and Chinese Patriarchy.

Review :
Suzanne Miers writes with conviction-it would be hard to be impartial about slavery-but this book is a thoughtful, rigorous and scholarly survey of its subject. The scholarship is impeccable. As it is, this book will be the standard study of 20th century slavery and abolition. Building on her distinguished record of publications, Suzanne Miers carefully traces the development of the international antislavery movement during the last century. She assiduously chronicles the campaigns of the London-based Anti-Slavery Society (now AntiSlavery International) within changing systems of international power. Emerita Suzanne Miers of Ohio University has capped her careerlong interest in slavery with a masterpiece of historical research. Her willingness to tackle this vast subject, to approach it from a truly global perspective, and to probe the complex forces that have shaped national and international responses to slavery and forced labor make for a work that will be the standard study of twentieth-century slavery and abolition for many years to come. Equally important, it will also be a major guide to the problems, questions, and issues that future research on slavery and forced labor in the contemporary world will need to explore and address. A major guide to the problems, questions, an dissues that future research on slavery and forced labor in the contemporary world will need to explore and address. Suzanne Miers is one of the leading authorities on the slave trade in Africa. This long-awaited book is based on a wide range of archival sources and is a balanced enquiry into the question of slavery not only in Africa but in Arabia and the Gulf. It is a fine work, comprehensive in scope, exact in detail, and illustrative of one of the great themes in human history. Slavery in the Twentieth Century is the bridge that links the extensive scholarship of historical slavery and the growing literature on contemporary slavery. This an invaluable service and the foundation for an expanded social and historical discipline of slavery studies, one that transcends the current focus on slavery in the anti-bellum American south. . . . As a textbook it was excellent, well-written, well-organized, and with sections that could stand alone as needed.