Modernizing a Slave Economy

“Interesting, well written, and well organized. . . . Recommended.” — CHOICE

“A stimulating and original analysis.” — Enterprise & Society

“A tightly knit, well-written and cogently argued narrative. . . . Offers an outstanding example of how modern political economy can be interdisciplinary, empirically rigorous, and accessible.” — H-Net Reviews

“[A] bracing, sophisticated, and persuasive revisionist account. . . . Will be read with enormous profit by scholars of the Civil War and the Old South.” — American Historical Review

“Majewski makes a compelling case that secession and the creation of the Confederacy gave Southerners an opportunity to initiate statist policies that had been germinating well before the war. . . . Brings a fresh approach, particularly in his statistical analysis of agricultural data, to several nagging historical questions.” — The Journal of American History

“The key to this book’s value is its portrayal of secessionists not as a group of free-trade, states' rights libertarians, but rather as leaders who often had conditional views about free trade and states' rights.” — The Independent Review

“Modernizing a Slave Economy offers a lively and insightful summation of southern economic thought in the antebellum decades, as well as of the difficulties encountered when reformers' visions confronted economic realities.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“[A] finely written and astutely argued book. . . . The book’s strong interdisciplinary focus will appeal to all historians of the Civil War and the south. . . . This book should have an impact not only on debates about slavery and economic development but also on the coming of secession and southern political ideology.” — Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“Compelling. . . . Majewski makes a stimulating argument that calls into question many comfortable assumptions about the development of secessionist thought. . . . Makes exciting contributions to the history of political economy of the United States before the Civil War.” — H-Net Reviews

“[An] impressively argued book. . . . Builds a bridge between the Old South and the New South and adds to the findings of scholars interested in the construction of mythic Souths both Old and New.” — Alpata