In this brief work, which reads like an extended essay, historian Betty Wood analyzes the development of African slavery in the 17th century English North American colonies. Wood suggests that, although the early English colonists did not arrive with the intent to import West Africans as slaves, a combination of racial stereotypes formed as early as the 16th century and economic factors made this outcome likely. Slavery developed differently in each region of North America, and Wood addresses the similarities and differences in separate chapters on the Caribbean and Carolina colonies, the Chesapeake/Tidewater colonies of Virginia and Maryland, and the Puritan and Quaker colonies in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region. This would make a nice companion reading for David Hackett Fischer’s Albion’s Seed, which is organized along the same regional lines but does not address the institutionalization of slavery in such depth. ( )

This is a basic introduction to the 17th century beginnings of slavery in the British-dominated Americas. The work is suitable for adults and older children. Chapters cover English attitudes towards bondage and "outsiders" prior and during to this time; stereotypes about Africans and Native Americans; and chattel- and bond-slavery in the Caribbean and the mainland colonies. This seemed like a well balanced work, and briefly noted several controversies among modern scholars. For the reader who wants to read further or in more depth, each chapter has a list of titles for further reading. ( )