Slavery: Why the Economist panned my book (Opinion) - CNN.com

 Slavery: Why the Economist panned my book (Opinion) - CNN.com: Edward E. Baptist, an associate professor of history at Cornell University, is the author of "The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism," published by Basic Books.

(CNN) -- One day two lifetimes ago, about 1825, a man from Maryland was standing outside a Methodist church after service, talking with his friends and fellow church members. William was enslaved. Parts of his life were very difficult. But he had also been able to create richness in other parts of his life. He probably had a family, and he was very active in the church. Yet as I explain in my new book "The Half Has Never Been Told," on that particular day everything suddenly changed for William.

William saw his owner approaching him with another white man. William might have never met this man before, but he had heard all about him. This was Austin Woolfolk, a slave trader who shipped hundreds of men, women, and children from Maryland down to New Orleans every year. And Woolfolk was carrying rope.