As a general rule, slave labor was both intensive and extensive. Questions concerning the work of the slaves show how far the controversy provoked by Time on the Cross has helped to share the agenda for recent debate and further study, though few of the book’s conclusions remain unchallenged or unscathed. The work of genovese and others will almost certainly prove more durable, not least because it never loses sight of the interconnections between slave labor and many other aspects of the SOuth’s peculiar institution and the life of the slave community. Slave work is central to the study of slave society. It leads directly into consideration of even broader issues–on one hand, the overall efficiency and profitability of the SOuthern slave economy, and on the other, the quality of slave life, the nature of the slave personality, and the development of slave culture.
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