Reviews for The Caning of Senator Sumner

The average rating for The Caning of Senator Sumner based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-07-08 00:00:00 Ricco Hall Essays by noted historians on topics all related to slavery, including women and slavery in particular, Native Americans and their interactions with slaves, etc. Most interesting is all of the many rationalizations of why people needed to be enslaved, and they are all explained in detail. Quite disturbing but overall, an informative book.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-03-22 00:00:00 Eric Carlson Ok, I consider myself a fairly intelligent individual. I completed BA's in History and Religion. I have an MBA and completed the course for a graduate level degree in history. I'm a voracious reader. Two of my areas of interest are slavery and the law, so eagerly snatched up this book when I saw it. I say that as a preamble for what I'm about to say, this book is not written for the lay person. The book is a collection of essays presented by various legal scholars on the subject of slavery and the law. Some of the essays are easier to read than others, but on a whole the book is targetting somebody with more of a lawyerly bent than a historical bent. Many of the sections referenced legal cases and statues assuming that you understand the concepts. Most the writing is dry and legalistic. This book turned out to be one that I had to force myself to read because I was interested in the content. I can't say that I recommend it.