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Cover image of Sugar and Slavery, Family and Race
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Sugar and Slavery, Family and Race

The Letters and Diary of Pierre Dessalles, Planter in Martinique, 1808-1856

edited and translated by Elborg Forster and Robert Forster

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Diaries of nineteenth-century plantation managers are rare; diaries of French sugar planters are rarer still. Although such works as the diaries of Ella Gertrude Thomas and James Henry Hammond provide insight into the plantation societies of the antebellum South, virtually no contemporary source treats planter-slave relations as extensively, or presents a white planter's views on slave society in as much detail, as do the letters and diary of Pierre Dessalles.

Now Elborg Forster and Robert Forster have translated and edited the most historically and socially significant portions of this unusual...

Diaries of nineteenth-century plantation managers are rare; diaries of French sugar planters are rarer still. Although such works as the diaries of Ella Gertrude Thomas and James Henry Hammond provide insight into the plantation societies of the antebellum South, virtually no contemporary source treats planter-slave relations as extensively, or presents a white planter's views on slave society in as much detail, as do the letters and diary of Pierre Dessalles.

Now Elborg Forster and Robert Forster have translated and edited the most historically and socially significant portions of this unusual work. Previously available only in a four-volume French edition, these materials treat a wide range of topics, including the slave economy, management and socialization of the labor force, the role of free blacks in society, the lives led by the plantation owners, and, significantly, black-white relations before, during, and after emancipation.

Reviews

Reviews

The editors have been most perceptive in making these documents available to the English-reading audience, because the lessons they contain about the system of slavery are universal in nature... Offers much to scholars and students of history. It reveals a complex and personal relationship among the races that may be surprising. Teachers may find the book useful as a learning tool.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
320
ISBN
9780801851544
Illustration Description
7 b&w illus.
Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Elborg Forster

Elborg Forster's translations for Johns Hopkins include Medieval Marriage by Georges Duby and Illness and Self in Society by Claudine Herzlich and Janine Pierret.
Featured Contributor

Robert Forster

Robert Forster is a professor emeritus of history at Johns Hopkins University. He coedited a series of translations from the Annales: Economies, Societies, Civilizations.