My son is a History Major in college and said that the book was a great resource.

The Alpha and Omega of American slavery scholarship. No one has thought so carefully, researched so fully, written so gracefully on the most heart-breaking of historical subjects

This is a book that focuses on slavery as a system of paternalism. It tries hard but in its efforts reduces slaves to one dimensional caricatures who have bought into and welcome the system of slavery. I read this in college and the way slaves were described as being invested in this system seemed even then such a shallow stereotypic view.

My professor did not assign this book for the African-American History course; he supplemented with some of Geneovese's theories but we were not assigned this book. My professor always reminded us to "never forget that slaves wanted ownership of their own bodies, the freedom to control their own lives and destinies and to be seen as human beings not property" so I believe he may have hesitated to expose us to something that portrayed slaves as happy with paternalism and welcoming the system of slavery because we were already exposed to that stereotypic view of slavery in our culture (advertising media, movies, cartoons, etc).

Genovese seems to forget that being owned by someone with absolute power over their enitre existence had an effect on how slaves acted and how they viewed themselves and those in power. We have modern examples of how life threatening situations can change you psychologically and impact your view of your oppressors (Stockholm's syndrome).

African-American history is too important to ignore and there are books out there that are well researched and give a more complete picture of the realities of slavery; exploring the impact of this system on the people enslaved while not buying into paternalistic stereotypes.

Some titles worth reading:

Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion by Peter H. Wood

Slave Resistance and Early African American History by Peter P. Hinks

To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance by Peter P. Hinks

Both Wood and Hinks are excellent historians. I took a class with Peter Hinks in college the major focus of his scholarship is slave resistance and in class he argued that Walker's appeal was not only important on its face but because it was widely circulated by both free and enslaved Africans that it inspired plans for insurrection maybe even Denmark Vesey's plan.

Labor of Love Labor of Sorrow by Jacqueline Jones

Jones has a good history of African-American Women focusing on slavery and reconstruction but at times it drags. She is an excellent researcher and sometimes they are not the best writers.

Writings of former slaves and freedmen:

David Walkers Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World by David Walker

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African by Olaudah Equiano

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

Slave Narratives (Library of America) by William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Fredrick Douglass

Nothing can compare to reading autobiographic accounts of those who were forced to endure slavery, all of the above are excellent; Equiano's biography includes the only first person account of Middle Passage ever written by an African. David Walker's Appeal is not an auto-biography it is a political and spiritual indictment of slave owners and a call for the enslaved to rise up against this immoral system of slavery in the name of God. Walker was an uncompromising radical political voice at a time when it was extremely unhealthy. His is a radical African-American voice that forshadows Fredrick Douglass, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

I think Roll Jordan Roll, is o.k. Hopefully the suggestions I've given for other options will either supplement this dated choice or replace it.


UPDATE: Hear former slaves speak about their experiences. Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Freedom [BOX SET] (Hardcover) by Ira Berlin (Editor), Marc Favreau (Editor), Steven F. Miller (Editor)

This includes transcripts and restored recordings from the 20's and 30's
Federal writers project. You hear the interviewers ask questions, the former slaves responses and have the transcripts and are able to see how interviewers edited. This is an insight into the people involved and sheds new light on a primary source that has been used in Afro-American History research. In addition to the suggestions I made above now you can hear former slaves speak for themselves; a must for any student of Afro-American history.

This is a book that focuses on slavery as a system of paternalism. It tries hard but in its efforts reduces slaves to one dimensional caricatures who have bought into and welcome the system of slavery. I read this in college and the way slaves were described as being invested in this system seemed even then such a shallow stereotypic view.

My professor did not assign this book for the African-American History course; he supplemented with some of Geneovese's theories but we were not assigned this book. My professor always reminded us to "never forget that slaves wanted ownership of their own bodies, the freedom to control their own lives and destinies and to be seen as human beings not property" so I believe he may have hesitated to expose us to something that portrayed slaves as happy with paternalism and welcoming the system of slavery because we were already exposed to that stereotypic view of slavery in our culture (advertising media, movies, cartoons, etc).

Genovese seems to forget that being owned by someone with absolute power over their enitre existence had an effect on how slaves acted and how they viewed themselves and those in power. We have modern examples of how life threatening situations can change you psychologically and impact your view of your oppressors (Stockholm's syndrome).

African-American history is too important to ignore and there are books out there that are well researched and give a more complete picture of the realities of slavery; exploring the impact of this system on the people enslaved while not buying into paternalistic stereotypes.

Some titles worth reading:

Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion by Peter H. Wood

Slave Resistance and Early African American History by Peter P. Hinks

To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance by Peter P. Hinks

Both Wood and Hinks are excellent historians. I took a class with Peter Hinks in college the major focus of his scholarship is slave resistance and in class he argued that Walker's appeal was not only important on its face but because it was widely circulated by both free and enslaved Africans that it inspired plans for insurrection maybe even Denmark Vesey's plan.

Labor of Love Labor of Sorrow by Jacqueline Jones

Jones has a good history of African-American Women focusing on slavery and reconstruction but at times it drags. She is an excellent researcher and sometimes they are not the best writers.

Writings of former slaves and freedmen:

David Walkers Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World by David Walker

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African by Olaudah Equiano

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

Slave Narratives (Library of America) by William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Fredrick Douglass

Nothing can compare to reading autobiographic accounts of those who were forced to endure slavery, all of the above are excellent; Equiano's biography includes the only first person account of Middle Passage ever written by an African. David Walker's Appeal is not an auto-biography it is a political and spiritual indictment of slave owners and a call for the enslaved to rise up against this immoral system of slavery in the name of God. Walker was an uncompromising radical political voice at a time when it was extremely unhealthy. His is a radical African-American voice that forshadows Fredrick Douglass, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

I think Roll Jordan Roll, is o.k. Hopefully the suggestions I've given for other options will either or supplement this dated choice or replace it.

This is a book that focuses on slavery as a system of paternalism. It tries hard but in its efforts reduces slaves to one dimensional caricatures who have bought into and welcome the system of slavery. I read this in college and the way slaves were described as being invested in this system seemed even then such a shallow stereotypic view.

My professor did not assign this book for the African-American History course; he supplemented with some of Geneovese's theories but we were not assigned this book. My professor always reminded us to "never forget that slaves wanted ownership of their own bodies, the freedom to control their own lives and destinies and to be seen as human beings not property" so I believe he may have hesitated to expose us to something that portrayed slaves as happy with paternalism and welcoming the system of slavery because we were already exposed to that stereotypic view of slavery in our culture (advertising media, movies, cartoons, etc).

Genovese seems to forget that being owned by someone with absolute power over their enitre existence had an effect on how slaves acted and how they viewed themselves and those in power. We have modern examples of how life threatening situations can change you psychologically and impact your view of your oppressors (Stockholm's syndrome).

African-American history is too important to ignore and there are books out there that are well researched and give a more complete picture of the realities of slavery; exploring the impact of this system on the people enslaved while not buying into paternalistic stereotypes.

Some titles worth reading:

Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion by Peter H. Wood

Slave Resistance and Early African American History by Peter P. Hinks

To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance by Peter P. Hinks

Both Wood and Hinks are excellent historians. I took a class with Peter Hinks in college the major focus of his scholarship is slave resistance and in class he argued that Walker's appeal was not only important on its face but because it was widely circulated by both free and enslaved Africans that it inspired plans for insurrection maybe even Denmark Vesey's plan.

Labor of Love Labor of Sorrow by Jacqueline Jones

Jones has a good history of African-American Women focusing on slavery and reconstruction but at times it drags. She is an excellent researcher and sometimes they are not the best writers.

Writings of former slaves and freedmen:

David Walkers Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World by David Walker

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African by Olaudah Equiano

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

Slave Narratives (Library of America) by William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Fredrick Douglass

Nothing can compare to reading autobiographic accounts of those who were forced to endure slavery, all of the above are excellent; Equiano's biography includes the only first person account of Middle Passage ever written by an African. David Walker's Appeal is not an auto-biography it is a political and spiritual indictment of slave owners and a call for the enslaved to rise up against this immoral system of slavery in the name of God. Walker was an uncompromising radical political voice at a time when it was extremely unhealthy. His is a radical African-American voice that forshadows Fredrick Douglass, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

I think Roll Jordan Roll, is o.k. Hopefully the suggestions I've given for other options will either or supplement this dated choice or replace it.

I read this book while in graduate school and found it among the more informative and fascinating books I read for the class to which it was assigned. Genovese writes in an intelligent style that is fast paced. This is not a typical dry history book. Even though slavery in America is not one of my specialties, this book made me aware of things I never knew.

Slavery is detestable to our modern society, but like it or not, it is part of our heritage. The world the slaves made lives on with us today. Genovese writes that white culture, particularly the culture of the poor whites, is very much in alignment with the world of the slaves. This book traces religion, family, social structures, daily life, and the life as slaves that black Americans experienced. Much of what is present (at least at the time this book was written and published) is clearly evident in the world the slaves made. Let's face it, life as a slave is nothing anyone would want to recreate (no modern reality TV show would ever dare such a concept) but for those who had to endure it, they made the most of their lives and our nation has benefited from that experience.

I recommend this book for American historians and social historians. The casual reader may be intimidated by the length, but it is worth every minute spent on it.

Thorough, nuanced, psychoanalytic and balanced; a tour de force: A prodigious work of American Historical scholarship.

Genovese has done us all a great service and we should be immensely grateful to him for producing this masterpiece on one of the most unpleasant periods of American history.

Even with some of the correctly pointed out shortcoming noted by other reviewers, Roll, Jordan, Roll still deserves a place in the Panthenon of American Historical Scholarship -- along side John Hope Franklin's From Slavery to Freedom.

I strongly disagree with other reviewer's that the author's conscious racist bias has somehow seeped in, flawed, colored and otherwise helped frame the context. To the extent this is true at all, it is almost certainly done unconsciously. However, to the author's credit, it must be pointed out that time after time he has drawn a wide berth around the context (one reviewer referred to this as over-contextualizing) just so that the reader can decide for himself what the true nature of the substance is. The scholarship in this volume is so cleanly done that a charge of racist bias frankly is almost incongruous.

For instance in discussing southern paternalism (referenced by an earlier reviewer), the section is prefaced with the following introductory paragraph:

"Cruel, unjust, exploitative, oppressive, slavery bound two peoples together in bitter antagonism while creating an organic relationship so complex and ambivalent that neither could express the simplest human feelings without reference to the other."

The author then goes on to say that:

"Southern paternalism, like every other paternalism, had little to do with Ole Massa's ostensible benevolence, kindness, and good cheer. It grew out of the necessity to discipline and morally justify a system of exploitation."

None of this strikes me as the easily recognizable and consciously slanted racist tripe we are all so accustomed to by racist apologist American historians. On the contrary, Genovese appeals to a need for the reader to think more deeply about the broader outlines of the context of this two-way subhuman drama. He asks us to see in fact how slavery entrapped both slave and master into a subhuman form of existence, out of which a normalized dynamics had to, and eventually did evolve, and did so organically. And if there was ever any doubt about the author's position then the following point made in the same section on paternalism should have put such doubts to rest:

"But southern slave society was not merely one more manifestation of some abstraction called racist society. Its history was essentially determined by particular relationships of class power in racial form."

By my way of thinking, this is drawing out and exhibiting the kind of complexity one is unlikely to find in any American history book anywhere, and on any subject -- not to mention on discussions about race and racism. Even the fact that there is an element of Marxist analysis lurking in the background does not bother me because it is appropriate and honestly applied - in the same way that WEB Du Bois applied it in his analysis of Reconstruction (See my review on Amazon.com).

But more importantly, every page and every paragraph in this book is treated with the same incredible depth and scholarly sophistication. Nothing is left to chance; polemics and BS do not have a chance to enter the equation in this manuscript. The analysis throughout is solid, transparent, devastatingly clear and packed with information.

If there is a better book in print, please refer me to it.

Fifty stars.

Reviewer: Herbert L. Calhoun, Ph.D. is the author of the forthcoming " Cultures Shamed, Cultures Denied, and Cultures Erased: The Long-term Impact of Racism on American culture."

I would give a very mixed review to Genovese's "Roll Jordan Roll". The book does contain a good deal of interesting information on the culture, customs and spirituality developed by slaves as they tried to carve out some world of their own within their circumscribed situation.

However I agree with other reviewers that this work is flawed in the way it deals with relations between slaveholders and enslaved. To portray a system based on severe physical coercion as being based on acquiesence by those on the bottom to the relatively benevolent rule of those at the top, is not only incorrect but to me seems to be flavored with that same condescending paternalism. Between slave-owning families and house slaves there were sometimes especially close, even fond relationships influenced by paternalistic attitudes (and in some cases actual paternity--though that was often more of a liability than a guarantee of good treatment); and some slaves thought themselves fortunate to have a (relatively) kind master, considering the alternatives. But weighting the focus toward the least brutal examples of American slavery implies that this was the most common slave experience, despite the huge amount of slave testimony as well as other documentary evidence that refutes this. Slaveholders might have had their feelings hurt when one of their slave "children" ran away, but if they managed to catch that recalcitrant runaway they usually did not hesitate to punish their "child" with torture or mutilatation.

The book's flaws diminish the impact of its strengths; a more realistic description of the brutality experienced by so many enslaved Africans and African Americans under a system kept in place by violence and fear, would have made all the more impressive the ways in which they, with unquenchable spirit and creativity, were able to retain their humanity and develop such a rich culture, .

As a JD PhD who teaches and researches American slavery I can say two horrendous things about this work. First, it is considered a classic and required reading for anyone who wants to understand the institution of slavery in America. Second, it is condescending, racist and continues to contaminate otherwise intelligent thought on the topic. Genovese contends that slave control was maintained through Hegemony, a concept developed by Gramsci to explain how the ruling class under capitalism uses ideology to persuade workers to consent its own moral, political and cultural values to their own detriment, a concept that can have no meaning in a regime of physical coersion. Genovese also claims that slavery was paternalistic, where slaves and their owners had reciprical rights and obligations. For example, according to him, slaves would "consent" to whippings that they saw as "reasonable." If you want a nice, pastoral portrayal of slaves singing while they cut "massa's" cotton, well this is the book for you.

Known as a classic in the genre, "Roll, Jordan, Roll" is a comprehensive examination of life in the slave south. Unlike other books of its type, Genovese explores both the slave and the slave owner's life and culture. The book extensively documents rare sources recording the views of the white slave owning culture.

Though comprehensive, at times "Roll, Jordan, Roll" seems to minimize the horrors of slavery by under-representing many of the powerful slave narratives and by over-representing quotations from slave owners. Genovese is best in his discussion of the religion of slaves. The use of more firsthand accounts from the enslaved Christians themselves would have been helpful to readers.

Over three decades old now, there are many books available which provide a complete presentation of both sides in the slavery experience. First, readers would benefit greatly from primary source books on the topic. Just a few of these first-hand examples written by those who had been there, include: Octavia Albert, "The House of Bondage or Charlotte Brooks and Other Slaves," William Andrews, "North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper, Lunsford Lane, Moses Grandy, and Thomas H. Jones," Henry Bibb, "Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: An American Slave," John Blassingame, "Slave Testimony," Arna Bontemps, "Five Black Lives: The Autobiographies of Venture Smith, James Mars, William Grimes, The Rev. G. W. Offley, and James Smith," Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, "Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery," Olaudah Equiano, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself," Alexander Falconbridge, "An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa," Thomas Higginson, "Army Life in a Black Regiment and Other Writings," Harriet Jacobs, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," Elizabeth Keckley, "Behind the Scenes, or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House," James Mellon, "Bullwhip Days: The Slaves Remember, An Oral History," Gilbert Osofsky, "Puttin' On Ole Massa: The Slave Narratives of Henry Bibb, William Wells Brown, and Solomon Northup," Daniel Payne, "Recollections of Seventy Years," Charles Perdue, "Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves," Peter Randolph, "From Slave Cabin to Pulpit," George Rawick, "The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (19 Volumes)."

Secondary sources that extend the scope of presentation include: Anne Bailey, "African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Beyond the Silence and the Shame," Ira Berlin, "Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America," Dwight Hopkins, "Down, Up, and Over: Slave Religion and Black Theology," Walter Johnson, "Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market," Anne Pinn, "Fortress Introduction to Black Church History," Albert Raboteau, Albert, "Canaan Land: A Religious History of African Americans," Hugh Thomas, "The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade 1440-1870."

Among the primary sources listed, the ones by Falconbridge and Higginson provide eye-witness accounts of the horrors of enslavement and the African American attitude toward those horrors by white authors who were there. The other primary sources listed provide first-hand accounts of African Americans who lived through the abuses of slavery.

Readers wanting immediate access to the views of those who experienced slavery in all its dehumanization, can visit the Library of Congress web site to read interviews of ex-enslaved men and women dictated in the 1930s. Supplementing these with the slave narratives mentioned above will provide the lay reader and aspiring expert/scholar with the research tools necessary to understand the world of enslavement.

Reviewer: Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D. is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," "Soul Physicians," and "Spiritual Friends."