Review essay: Slavery in Africa

The Ideology of Slavery in Africa. Edited by Paul E. Lovejoy. Beverly Hills and London: Sage Publications, 1981. 311pp.

Transformations in slavery: a history of slavery in Africa. By Paul E. Lovejoy. Cambridge University Press, 1983. xvi + 347pp. Bibl., Index.     

Review essay - Recent Reference Books on Slavery

Editors: DRESCHER, SEYMOUR and ENGERMAN, STANLEY L.; A Historical Guide to World Slavery     

Review essay: empires, ancient and modern

This essay drews attention to two books on empires by historians which deserve the attention of sociologists. Bang's model of the workings of the Roman economy powerfully demonstrates the tributary nature of per-industrial tributary empires. Darwin's analysis concentrates on modern overseas empires, wholly different in character as they involved the transportation of consumption items for the many rather than luxury goods for the few. Darwin is especially good at describing the conditions of existence of late nineteenth century empires, noting that their demise was caused most of all by the failure of balance of power politics in Europe. Concluding thoughts are offered about the USA.     

Review essay: Between two wars: The rise and fall of Chattel Slavery in Georgia

Slavery and Rice Culture in Low Country Georgia, 1750–1860. Julia Floyd Smith. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985.

On the Threshold of Freedom: Masters and Slaves in Civil War Georgia. Clarence L. Mohr. Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press, 1986.     

Review essay: Abolition and its aftermath

Abolition and its Aftermath: The Historical Context 1790–1916. D. Richardson (ed.). London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1985. ix, 179pp.

Out of Slavery: Abolition and After 1833–1983. J. Hayward (ed.). London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1985. xiii, 200pp.     

Review Essay:Analyzing Slavery and the Slave Narrative

Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, by Ira Berlin. Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation, edited by Ira Berlin, Marc Favreau, and Steven F. Miller.     

Review article: Slavery and slavishness in Russia and America

Hellie, Richard, Slavery in Russia 1450–1725. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. xix, 776 pp.

Kolchin, Peter. Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987. xiv, 517 pp.     

Not playing around: global capitalism,modern sport and consumer culture

Abstract The development of modern sport is bound up with processes of economic and cultural transformation associated with the global diffusion of capitalist forms of consumption. In this article I draw attention to aspects of the globalization of modern sport that were becoming apparent towards the close of the nineteenth century and then move on to consider the factors that contributed to sport becoming a truly global phenomenon in the course of the twentieth century. Consideration is given to the development of international sport and sports goods companies, the growth in media interest and the increasing significance of sponsorship, consumer culture and sporting celebrities. The global diffusion of modern sport that gathered momentum in the course of the twentieth century involved a number of networked elements, including transnational communications media and commercial corporations for which sport, especially through the iconic figure of the transnational celebrity sport star, constitutes a universally appealing globally networked cultural form. Association with sport events and sporting figures through global broadcasting, sponsorship and endorsement arrangements offers commercial corporations unique access to global consumer culture.     

Review essay: A world the slaves made

Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community. CHARLES JOYNER. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, xxii, 345 pp. £27.50.     

Review essay: The political economy of slavery and freedom in Cuba

Slave Emancipation in Cuba: The Transition to Free Labor, 1860–1899. Rebbecca Scott. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985. xviii, 319.

Tobacco on the Periphery: A Case Study in Cuban Labour History, 1860–1958. Jean Stubbs (Cambridge Latin American Studies, number 51) New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. xiii, 203).     

Review essay - The Road to 1848: Interpreting French Anti-Slavery

Author: JENNINGS, LAWRENCE C.; French Anti-Slavery: The Movement for the Abolition of Slavery in France, 1802-1848; Author: KIELSTRA, PAUL MICHAEL; The Politics of Slave Trade Suppression in Britain and France, 1814-48     

Review essay — administrative delay at the NLRB: Some modest proposals

V. Conclusion The latest edition of Miller’s Appraisal provides an updated glimpse into the inner workings of the NLRB. Miller’s observations are knowledgeable and understandable, and his book is an important contribution for academics, the labor bar, and the Board itself. We hope it spurs further study of the Board’s administration of the Act and exploration of ways to improve it. Miller’s pessimism about potential reforms, short of his proposed abolition of the five-member Board in favor of a new labor and employment division of the federal district courts, goes too far. We have suggested a few changes that would make the Board more efficient without affecting the Board’s substantive mission. Hopefully, with further efforts like Miller’s in the future, the Board will effect a consistent improvement upon its somewhat spotty record of efficiency and will keep the NLRA vibrant well into this new century. We especially thank former NLRB Regional Director Daniel Silverman for his invaluable contributions to this article.     

Vertical capitalism: Skyscrapers and organization

This paper employs the skyscraper to show how culture and economy are necessarily intertwined. I begin with the idea of the sublime, and then move on to consider representations of the tall building from the 1870s to the present day in order to illustrate what these artefacts are understood to ‘mean’. But skyscrapers are not merely symbols of modern organization, they are themselves forms of economic organizing and the second section of the paper notes the various ways in which the tall building, and the divisions of labour that enabled it, began by ‘making the land pay’ in cities with a burgeoning rental market for small firms. This shift involves partly displacing the architect and the corporation, and instead focussing on project organization and rental values. I conclude by suggesting that the term ‘organization’, because of its mutability, can provide a bridge between culturalist and economic representations.