this is an absolutely extraordinary piece of research and compilation. truly. the amount of information in these pages, and the work that had to go into learning it all and putting it all together, is simply astounding. i'm not at all sure about some of the conclusions he draws and i'm sure that some slaves really did have an okay life and their masters weren't the very worst they could possibly be, but also they were still slaves and he didn't always talk about the situation as if it was one of bondage. i mean he also did, most of the time, and it's fair to point out where slaves were happy and prosperous. but it didn't all sit quite right with me.

also, there is so much information here. i think i ended up listening to most of this a few times because it was so hard for me to stay focused on it. it's so dry and parts are full of small lists of numbers, so my mind wandered. but the fullness and depth of the information gathered here really is so impressive. and his point, that african culture and ideas made their way into american life - and contributed to making the america that we know today - and varied both by geography of the colonies and geography of where the slaves came from, is an important piece of historical data that should be talked about more often.

"Human bondage was a brutal business everywhere but the human spirit of individual slaves survived and even flourished, especially when they were able to form families and where clusters of Africans came together."

"The expense of keeping a European servant for one year was greater than the purchase of an African slave for life."

David Hackett Fischer is a fine, old-school, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. Heretofore, his most influential work (Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America) focused on the folkways of the English/British in colonial America and their influence on the history of the British colonies and the United States. This book takes a similar form for African folkways and influence in what would become the United States. It is well-researched, well-written, engaging, and will be influential. And, it is a perfect scholarly, historical antidote to the politico-economo-marxian twaddle of the 1619 Project. For Fischer, unlike Hannah-Jones and her ilk, African Americans were not merely put upon victims and America is not a rights-less, dictatorial, racialist, capitalist hellscape. Africans, Fischer notes, contributed to from the beginning to what makes America America, strived and survived despite slavery and racism, and forced America to live up to its values and promises. Reading each book in succession will highlight the difference. As such, this book deserves, nay demands, to be read by every professor or teacher of U.S. history, every political pundit, every CRTer, and every person interested in American history. It is that good and I foresee it winning numerous awards.

Fischer splits his book into three major regions: northern, southern, and frontiers; and then into nine smaller areas: New England; Hudson Valley; Delaware Valley in the North; Chesapeake Virginia and Maryland; Coastal Carolina, Georgia, and Florida; Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Gulf Coast in the South; and Western Frontiers; Maritime Frontiers; Southern Frontiers on the frontier. Such subdivisions allow Fischer to highlight the differences and similarities in each region over time. There are, of course, wide differences between slavery in the North, the Chesapeake, Carolina, and Louisiana. Much of the book also covers free blacks, which the subtitle of the books erases with "enslaved people."* The contributions that Black Americans made to the history of the United States of America is shown in its depth and breadth. And it's not just the brute physical force that slaves used to build up America, clear the land, create the wealth, though those things are important, vital contributions. It's the ideas and ideals, it's business, trade, exploration, building, boats, cattle ranching, farming, revolutions, striving, soldiering, rights, rights rights. Et cetera, ad infinitum. The ideas and ideals. It is a great book and an important story.

Fischer does have some missteps. In a book this wide, he is going to miss some research. The endnotes are great and sometimes expansive, but chock-full of more readings and more sources. I understand from a publishing standpoint why there is no separate bibliography or, at least, a selected bibliography. I should be happy they decided to include endnotes at all. Fischer's role as an old-fashioned liberal (I'm sure he's not a progressive 1619 type) shows through in his glaring omission about Gullah-Geechees in the present-day. He mentions (twice! pp. 454-455, 731) the Gullah roots of Michelle Obama's family. Okay. But he ignores the second black justice of the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, whose first language was Gullah! A Gullah Supreme Court Justice! But, Thomas, bête noire of the liberalati, does not merit a mention by Fischer. Fischer also wildly misinterprets Frederick Douglass (as his most recent biographer, David Blight does too), saying (p. 747) that "Frederick Douglass believed that the diversity of American population was one of its greatest strengths."† He then quotes from Douglass:

"He wrote that the United States is 'the most conspicuous example of composite nationality in the world.... Our greatness and grandeur will be found in the faithful application of the principle of perfect civil equality to the people of all races and creeds.'"

Of course, Fischer's interpretation of Douglass is wrong. Douglass isn't praising racial (and credal) diversity—the skin-deep racialist DIVERSITY fetish that progressives idolize today—he is saying that despite the diversity of America's races and creeds, what makes a true American, what makes America great and grand is that all these diverse people composite themselves, compose themselves, together "in the faithful application of the principle of perfect civil equality to the people." THAT is what makes America great according to Douglass: treating everyone as an equal before the law despite diversity. Not, as Fischer and others would have it, treat all diversity as equal for the sake of diversity. E pluribus unum: "out of many, one"; NOT e pluribus pluribus: "out of many, many." My point, and Douglass's, and, I think, Fischer's before this misstep, is that all races, colors, creeds, whatever, we all—the "diversity" of us—all contributed and contribute something to America. But, I digress. Such minor foibles in no way distract from the book in any major way. It is a great and important book that deserves to be influential.

Images, maps, tables; endnotes, index. Well-written, engaging, excellent.

* Though the subtitle of the book uses the present-day 1619ish euphemism "enslaved persons" instead of "slaves" (look up the "euphemism treadmill"), Fischer uses "slaves" mostly.
† [Sic] if you think that that sentence is missing a "the" after the first "of,": ""Frederick Douglass believed that the diversity of [the] American population was one of its greatest strengths." ( )

African-American contributions to American history are often pushed to the side and either given a lower priority when presented or segregated into its own area. These stories are often discussed during Black History Month, but then forgotten in the remaining eleven months of the year. In this book, a (white) Pulitzer Prize-winning author seeks to make a comprehensive, foundational case that enslaved people significantly enriched the cultural course of America – all before the Civil War. He does so in just under 1,000 pages with meticulous research and engaging prose.

Fischer admits that the story of African contributions varies regionally. Thus, he divides his narrative into nine regions, each with its own story, cultural influences, and main actors. Intellectual and spiritual New England fares differently than French/Spanish Louisiana, and Charleston’s Gullah culture varies from Pennsylvania’s Quakers. Organizing this story into regions allows Fischer to describe America in all its diversity. Then he describes how each region was made vitally better by African contributions, in a way that you could not imagine the history existing without these contributions.

Importantly, Fischer traces African-American cultural history back to Africa. Into the historical narrative, he integrates information about the names of enslaved people along with where boats transported from. Then he reconstructs the culture of the tribes and countries that these people came from. Thus, the prior lives of enslaved African are respected as they use these skills in a new setting. For example, African boat-making skills, formed especially by one African tribe, added to European boats in the Chesapeake Bay region of America. This technological innovation allowed the region to better conduct commerce among dispersed towns.

The tales of individual African-Americans are told here. Some were names I knew, but Fischer still introduced me to so many characters. Even though many whites sought to oppress blacks, enslaved Africans persisted to contribute their knowledge to construct America. Fischer proves that thesis exhaustively, with detail after detail, as he makes the case that American history and American ideals simply could not be without their African roots.

I’m not a historian, only a fan of history, so I cannot critically judge the quality of historiography in this book. I trust Fischer’s Pulitzer and distinguished academic credentials (a university professor at Brandeis) are fairly earned. Nonetheless, this book is one of the best histories I have ever read (and I’ve read hundreds). It breaks down an important, complex issue in detailed fashion, and then rebuilds it in a new way that advances the conversation. Words like brilliant and ingenious come to mind. I sincerely hope that Fischer’s take on race in America will achieve its potential in bringing a richer, more diverse, and more honest discussion of who we Americans are. ( )