Thomas Bender is University Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History at New York University.
Ashworth, John : University of East Anglia
John Ashworth is Lecturer in American Studies at the University of East Anglia.
Davis, David Brion : Yale University
David Brion Davis is Sterling Professor of History at Yale University.
Haskell, Thomas L. : Rice University
Thomas L. Haskell is Professor of History at Rice University.
Review
"The marrow of the most important historiographical controversy since the 1970s."
--Michael Johnson, University of California, Irvine
"A debate of intellectual significance and power. The implications of these essays extend far beyond antislavery,
important as that subject undoubtedly is. This will be of major importance to students of historical method as
well as the history of ideas and reform movements."-
-Carl N. Degler, Stanford University
University of California Press Web Site, June, 2000
Summary
This volume brings together one of the most provocative debates among historians in recent years. The center
of controversy is the emergence of the antislavery movement in the United States and Britain and the relation of
capitalism to this development.
The essays delve beyond these issues, however, to raise a deeper question of historical interpretation: What are
the relations between consciousness, moral action, and social change? The debate illustrates that concepts common
in historical practice are not so stable as we have thought them to be. It is about concepts as much as evidence,
about the need for clarity in using the tools of contemporary historical practice.
The participating historians are scholars of great distinction. Beginning with an essay published in the American
Historical Review (AHR), Thomas L. Haskell challenged the interpretive framework of David Brion Davis's celebrated
study, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution. The AHR subsequently published responses by Davis and by
John Ashworth, as well as a rejoinder by Haskell. The AHR essays and the relevant portions of Davis's book are
reprinted here. In addition, there are two new essays by Davis and Ashworth and a general consideration of the
subject by Thomas Bender.
This is a highly disciplined, insightful presentation of a major controversy in historical interpretation that
will expand the debate into new realms.
