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Slavery : Its Undeniable Impact On The World 's Economic Growth Through Its Capitalist Exploitation Of Human Lives Essay

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Slavery means many different things to many different people; to some it may recall a past of unspeakable hardships and tribulations, while to others it may evoke mawkish memories of capitalist ventures and economic prosperity. One thing can be known for certain about slavery: its undeniable impact on the world’s economic growth through its capitalist exploitation of human lives. Grandin’s The Empire of Necessity explores the wide-reaching roots of the slave trade and examines the consequences and coincidences that entangled the lives of countless enslaved Africans, slavers, and the men who considered themselves to be neither. Using the tale of a failed slave revolt in the South Pacific, Grandin makes the argument that slavery had never been “just about slavery”; it was a multi-faceted system of oppression that was used as a foundation with which the modern world was built upon. Grandin’s retelling of that fateful day in 1805 spares no detail; no stone is left unturned in his exploration of the events and paths leading up to this “horse market of crashing historical currents, of free trade, U.S. expansion, and slavery, and of colliding ideas of justice and faith.” His exposition is vast and diverse, covering subjects such as Islam, sealing, piracy, whaling, and the writings of Charles Darwin and Herman Melville; all with the intent to reveal their interconnectivity to one another in this ubiquitous “trap” that makes up the “paradox of freedom and slavery in America.”

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