In the Image of God: Religion, Moral Values, and Our Heritage of Slavery
Most of these essays are reviews of other writers' work. Although uneven in quality, they constitute an engaging introduction to historians concerned with "our heritage of slavery." An autobiographical introduction frames the book's five parts, which roughly coincide with the categories of the subtitle. Part 1 reviews biographies of Reinhold Niebuhr and Martin Luther King, then turns to Jewish-African American relations in the context of the controversy over Jewish involvement in the slave trade. Parts 2 and 3 discuss historians C. Vann Woodward and Eugene Genovese and consider what in one piece is called "the labyrinth of slavery." Further on in part 3 and in part 4, Davis initiates readers into a lively conversation among historians about relationships between capitalism and slavery and about the complex question of resistance. In part 5, Davis turns to the social construction of race and interrelations among race, class, and gender. He relentlessly resists simplification and maintains a global perspective, but his insistence on complexity doesn't make his work inaccessible. He proves a worthy guide for walking through the labyrinth with open eyes.Steven SchroederCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved