Econocide

“Based on extensive statistical evidence and a careful reading of the contemporary debates, Drescher’s book has led to a significant shift in scholarly opinion regarding the reasons behind the end of the British slave trade and has moved the debate to a more sophisticated level, an ongoing debate that he examines in a new preface to this volume.” — Stanley Engerman, John Munro Professor of Economics and Professor of History, University of Rochester

“A timely reissue of one of the paradigm-shifting texts in the capitalism and slavery debates. The new foreword and preface alone are worth the price of admission.” — David Eltis, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of History, Emory University

Praise for the First Edition

“As thoroughgoing and elegant a piece of revisionism in the best sense as has appeared anywhere in the discipline in recent years.” — David Eltis, Business History Review

“A model of clarity and economy, Drescher’s tightly argued and persuasive book is a frontal assault upon the decline theory of abolitionism.” — Jack P. Greene, Agricultural History

“In [Dreshcer’s] analysis old assumptions fall like ninepins.” — Betty Fladeland, American Historical Review

“Seymour Drescher has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a specialist of European colonial slavery, the slave trade and abolitionism, and especially of the role played by Great Britain in these processes.” — Lawrence C. Jennings, Journal of Modern History

“[Drescher] showed how abolitionism was an important part of popular culture in Britain at that time, commanding support from people who had no economic interest in the matter one way or the other.” — Stephen Davies, The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty

“The most direct and enduring challenge to the 'Williams Thesis' runs through the influential publications of Seymour Drescher.” — Matt D. Childs, H-Net Reviews

“[A] powerful critique.” — Journal of NC Association of Historians