American South A History Book

2019 Reading Challenge - A book with a plant in the title or on the cover

If one is looking for a resource for data - statistics, timelines, etc. - on the history of plantations in the Western Hemisphere, this could be a helpful document. This book is very Eurocentric. Not once are the enslaved people that were forced to be the fuel for the plantation complex being dissected in this book ever referred to as people. Their very real lived experience and the impact of their kidnapping and forced labor had on both sides of the Atlantic is minimized. The author implies that there are human tragedies in every culture and every time period, so the negative impact of the slave trade and plantation complex isn't very relevant because it's part of the human cycle. It is also heavily weighted toward approaching the complex from the colonizers historical record and European context. There are brief discussions of African empires and various ethnic communities, but it is no where as in-depth or complete. I found this book fell short and was lacking in a serious rigorous examination of a significant period of human history.