Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste

by Mark S. Weiner

Book Overview

A sweeping history of American ideas of belonging and citizenship, told through the stories of fourteen legal cases that helped to shape our nation. Spanning the period from colonial times to the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375409815
• ISBN13: 9780375409813
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 4.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.6" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

The Intricate Web of Storytelling is Immaculate

What a fascinating book which at its heart attempts to answer the question "what does it mean to belong?" Not only is that a question of actual acceptance by one group, but one of perceived acceptance by another. The book is extremely well structured. The author, in examining, what it means, specifically, to be American, takes us seemlessly through the history of the Afro-American in the US through poignant discriptives of key black trials. Each story is told with meticulous, at times excruciating, detail down to the color of Indian cloth for which young African boys were traded. Every sight, smell, and stutter of speech noted to present the reader with an immaculate image of the moment. I am sure that Prof. Weiner's conclusion that the Afro-American now "belongs" (i.e. is not an outcaste in American society) is debatable by both liberals and conservatives, but the history and the final arguments are well stated and worth the time to read.