Eric Foner's "Nothing but Freedom" Book Review by Hatzi

This paper discuses the calamitous failure of post-emancipation society in Haiti, the British Caribbean, West Indies, America, and eastern and southern Africa as revealed in Eric Foner's book "Nothing but Freedom". Foner theorizes that a cyclical dilemma is evident in these countries in which newly abolished freedmen are granted liberty and yet continue to struggle in their pursuit of a life of equality. The author relates that Foner believes that one of the many foundations of slavery in pre-nineteenth century emancipation is highlighted through slave plantation, which was the incubator of a highly stratified system of race relations and a unique Afro-American culture.