Seymour Drescher Books

The book presents a critical examination of Eric Williams's thesis regarding Britain's abolition of the slave trade. Seymour Drescher contends that the decision was driven by public opposition rather than economic decline, leading to what he describes as "econocide." He argues that this abolition was detrimental to Britain's economic interests, occurring when slavery was at its peak potential. Drescher's analysis challenges prevailing notions about the motivations behind the abolition, emphasizing the role of public activism in shaping historical outcomes.

In one form or another, slavery has existed throughout the world for millennia. It helped to change the world, and the world transformed the institution. In the 1450s, when Europeans from the small corner of the globe least enmeshed in the institution first interacted with peoples of other continents, they created, in the Americas, the most dynamic, productive, and exploitative system of coerced labor in human history. Three centuries later these same intercontinental actions produced a movement that successfully challenged the institution at the peak of its dynamism. Within another century a new surge of European expansion constructed Old World empires under the banner of antislavery. However, twentieth-century Europe itself was inundated by a new system of slavery, larger and more deadly than its earlier system of New World slavery. This book examines these dramatic expansions and contractions of the institution of slavery and the impact of violence, economics, and civil society in the ebb and flow of slavery and antislavery during the last five centuries.

Seymour Drescher offers profound and nuanced arguments that challenge and reshape the understanding of slavery's history. His insights encourage readers to reconsider established perspectives, highlighting the complexity of the subject and its implications. Through rigorous analysis, Drescher contributes significantly to the discourse on slavery, making this work essential for those interested in historical narratives and their evolution.