A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery
by E. Benjamin Skinner
List Price:
Our Price: $5.75
You Save: $20.25 (78%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.51 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: E. Benjamin SkinnerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-11
ISBN: 0743290070
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Free Press
Book Reviews of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery
Book Review: Real, Hard-hitting Look at the Faces of Slavery Today
Summary: 5 Stars
"A Crime So Monstrous" presents a gripping, first-hand account of modern day human slavery. Author Benjamin Skinner takes readers into the dark underworld of human bondage and exploitation that is all but a plane and cab ride from the life of luxury we enjoy in the West. Skinner traveled the world to meet slavetraders, slaves and ex-slaves. He tells the stories of several individuals who have been subjected to horrific, inhumane treatment and put through the most horrendous of conditions. The result is an intense, authentic book that people must read.
Skinner hits the most desperate locales where today's slavery has taken hold. The seediest spots in Haiti, Moldova, Sudan, India, and Dubai set the scenes of the book. Skinner tells the stories of victims of slavery from each of those regions. But he does so in a way that both details some of the horrors they experienced while giving voice to their dignity and pointing to their hopes of overcoming the challenges that remain for former slaves once the chains have been broken.
Along the way, Skinner also meets with former U.S. Ambassador John Miller, who headed the U.S. State Departments office to combat trafficking in human persons. Skinner's portrait of Amb. Miller is enjoyable and offers a bit of relief to readers. This book is NOT light reading. It can be just plain difficult to pick up on a sunny day. The horrors of slavery can certainly make one want to avoid it. But the fact that the evil of slavery exists in the world today is reason itself to read this important book.
Skinner adopts modern-day abolitionist Kevin Bales' definition of "slave": a person who is compelled to work, through force or fraud, for no pay beyond subsistence. This definition seems right to me. Apparently, there is some debate in abolitionist circles about the definition of slavery--or at least debate over what the emphasis of anti-slavery efforts should be today. "Wage slavery" and sex slavery are both evils, but some abolitionists differ in means and priorities in eradicating them both. Skinner gets into the fray here, and gives a picture of Michael Horowitz that is none too complimentary. This reviewer simply doesn't have the background to assess all of Skinner's evaluations. But readers of the book should at least take time to read Logan Paul Gage's May 5, 2008 "First Things" review of Skinner's book to get another perspective.
If slavery isn't wrong, nothing is wrong. "A Crime So Monstrous" is a book about an evil that must be stopped. Get it. Read it.
History Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Thirty-nine insomnia-creating thrillers
Stormy Weatherby Carl Hiaasen
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2001-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.73
Price in other shops:
Fiskadoroby Denis Johnson
Harper Perennial; Published: 1995-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Angels: A Novelby Denis Johnson
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.36
Price in other shops:
Seek: Reports from the Edges of America & Beyondby Denis Johnson
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.29
Price in other shops:
Tourist Seasonby Carl Hiaasen
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2005-05-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.04
Price in other shops:
Double Whammyby Carl Hiaasen
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2005-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
After Dark ThrillersBCI ECLIPSE LLC; Release date: 2007-07-24; DVD
Best price: $5.91
Price in other shops:
OutrageRelease date: 2002-10-22; DVD
Best price: $3.18
Price in other shops:
The Unquiet: A Thrillerby John Connolly
Pocket Star; Published: 2008-03-25; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Robert Ludlum's The Altman Code: A Covert-One Novel (Covert-One)by Gayle Lynds
St. Martin's Paperbacks; Published: 2004-03-13; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.93
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Human TraffickingRelease date: 2006-05-02; DVD
Best price: $3.64
Price in other shops:
Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War IIby Douglas A. Blackmon
Doubleday; Published: 2008-03-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.27
Price in other shops:
Be the Change: Your Guide to Freeing Slaves and Changing the World (invert)by Zach Hunter
Zondervan/Youth Specialties; Published: 2007-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.96
Price in other shops:
Moment of Truth in Iraq: How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hopeby Michael Yon
Richard Vigilante Books; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.98
Price in other shops:
Enslaved: True Stories of Modern Day SlaveryPalgrave Macmillan; Published: 2008-05-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
Understanding Global Slavery: A Readerby Kevin Bales
University of California Press; Published: 2005-11-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.70
Price in other shops:
The War on Human Trafficking: U.S. Policy Assessedby Anthony M. DeStefano
Rutgers University Press; Published: 2007-08-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.96
Price in other shops:
Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slavesby Kevin Bales
University of California Press; Published: 2007-09-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.65
Price in other shops:
Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight Itby David Batstone
HarperOne; Published: 2007-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economyby Kevin Bales
University of California Press; Published: 2004-11-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.87
Price in other shops: