The African experience in Spanish America, 1502 to the present day

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Robert C.-H. Shell

The Dutch East India Company's introduction of the first slave into the region known as the Cape of Good Hope in 1653 established an institution whose legal status ended in 1838 but whose social and political reverberations are still felt today. Children of Bondage is the story of the social, cultural, and biological progeny of that slave society. Robert Shell examines the complex and highly stratified hierarchies that evolved in South Africa, and outlines how its multiracial system of slavery was distinct from the biracial system that arose in the New World. Shell argues that while frontier and class interests were significant factors in South Africa's history, these influences were secondary manifestations of a more universal force, namely, the family as the fundamental unit of subordination. He explores the history of oceanic and domestic slave trades, sexual and gender relations within the slave hierarchy, religious and ethnic identities among slaves, and the promises and realities of manumission. By viewing the institution of South African slavery from many levels he concludes, "Not only slaves were in bondage; in a profound sense, the owners were as well."

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Luise Büchner

"Writing in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1848, Luise Buchner argued strongly for the reform of women's education in her best-known work, Women and Their Vocation. Although she accepted the nineteenth-century view of the primacy of home and family for women, she believed that an appropriate education was necessary for the development of a woman's skills and intellect. Only then could women make their fullest contribution to society, whether through their influence within the family circle, or by acting in the public sphere. Women and Their Vocation presents a translation of Buchner's essay and an introduction to her life and the issues related to a woman's role in nineteenth-century Germany."--BOOK JACKET.

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Aleksandr B. Kamenskii

Russia's eighteenth-century drive toward modernity and empire under the two "greats" - Peter I and Catherine II - is fully captured in this new work by one of Russia's outstanding young historians. Kamenskii develops three themes: Russia's encounter with European civilization; the transformation of "Holy Russia" into a multinational empire; and the effects of efforts from above to modernize Russia selectively along Western lines. Writing in a clear, crisp style, the author enlivens his narrative with observations from contemporary literary figures and political commentators that illuminate the significance of the events he describes. In preparing this first history of eighteenth-century Russia to be written in many years, Kamenskii has drawn on the work of several generations of historians from many nations. His goal - gracefully achieved - has been to produce a readable, one-volume synthesis revealing the events and processes that were of greatest importance in transforming Russia into one of the world's most lasting empires.

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Teresa Rojas, coordinadora

"Includes five articles on agricultural organization, land tenure, and cultivation methods since precolumbian period. Each contribution deals with a specific historical period: precolumbian, colonial, 19th century, the Porfiriato, and postrevolution. Descriptive, comprehensive, and useful overview"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.