Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South

"The most valuable and stimulating general interpretation of the Old South to appear in recent years."—George M. Fredrickson

This pathbreaking interpretation of the slaveholding South begins with the insight that slavery and freedom were not mutually exclusive but were intertwined in every dimension of life in the South. James Oakes traces the implications of this insight for relations between masters and slaves, slaveholders and non-slaveholders, and for the rise of a racist ideology.