Slavery Today (Groundwork Guides Series)

by Kevin Bales, Rebecca Cornell

Overview

Forced to work in back-breaking, under- or unpaid jobs from agricultural work to prostitution, slaves today — men and women, old and young — are trapped in the same spiral of brutality and control they have endured for centuries, with one crucial difference: a collapse in the price of human beings. Globalization, governmental corruption, and the population explosion have thrust billions of people into the pool of potential slaves. This huge surplus of impoverished people has pushed the human price tag to only $100, the cost of a pair of “designer” jeans. This means that it’s worse to be a slave today than ever before. Slavery Today traces the "products" created by this inhuman system from the jungle and farm through the global markets and into our lives and homes. It addresses the controversies over prostitution and the buying back of slaves while presenting solutions and ways readers can get involved in the growing global anti-slavery movement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780888997739
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	08/28/2008
Series:	Groundwork Guides Series
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	437,575
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1180L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

Table of Contents

The New Slavery     7
Slavery Throughout History     25
Types of Slavery     41
Slavery Around the World     54
Slavery and Globalization     82
Controversies and Problems     96
How We Will End Slavery     107
Timeline     118
Notes     125
For Further Information     129
Acknowledgments     136
Index     137

Editorial Reviews

Authors Bales and Cornell have written a small book about a large topic. The intent of their book is to provide an overall picture of slavery as it exists today. Although slavery is over 5,000 years old, it still exists in today's world through the means of cheap forced labor, kidnapping, and the selling of human beings for profit. Worldwide, there are estimated to be 27 million enslaved people. The authors offer a picture of hope as they offer first-person accounts of some of the children who have been freed from slavery thanks to the help of individuals and organizations. There are many informative sidebars throughout the book, and these help readers understand the different aspects of slavery. For example, sidebars include a definition of human trafficking, information about slave resistance, and differences between old and new slavery. The authors also include statistics, such as the number of trafficking victims by region. In 2006, almost 1,400,000 victims were moved into Asia and the Pacific, while 270,000 were sent to the United States, Europe, and Canada. The authors have done a very good job of presenting a concise picture of slavery today and offering positive insight into what is being done to eliminate it. A timeline, chapter notes, and a list of resources for further information (websites and books) are included. Reviewer: Della A. Yannuzzi

Children's Literature - Della A. Yannuzzi

Slavery is not a problem of the past. This Groundwork Guide is co-edited by two experts on modern slavery, which exists on all continents and in forms, often ignored or at least overlooked by current societies. A slave in modern times is a person held in a social and/or economical relationship controlled by threat of violence and unpaid for his or her labor. Slavery thrives today in many situations because slaves are cheap to obtain (as low as $10) and are often kept in slavery for short periods of time since replacements are so easily obtained. Slavery often follows wars, extreme economic crises and dictatorships, or is simply born out of poverty. Today's slaves work in labor-intensive situations, at distasteful jobs, or in various forms of prostitution. While individuals are often tricked into slave situations, they find few avenues of escape. Bales and Cornell not only present an overview of modern day global slavery, they also offer charts, chronological summaries and many examples of slaves rescued by their own courage and by aid from international organizations and a growing number of nations who are passing laws to fight the current trends. The book offers suggestions for fighting modern slavery and provides lists of organizations, websites and published sources involved in this struggle. Reviewer: Patricia Moore

KLIATT - Patricia Moore