I received and read an Arc of this book two years ago and after all that time I have decided that instead of attempting to write a review, I will just say that this book should be read.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publishers Perseus Books/Basic Books and the author Joshua D. Rotham for the e-Arc of the book.

It was evident that this was a highly researched book. I enjoyed reading this one and getting that new perspective on this matter. It intrigued me enough to keep me reading through it, and for me that is a bonus!

I read about 25 pages of this book and found the author to carry such a monstrous chip on shoulder with narrative horrible inaccurate of documented and over-written history, that I shut the book. This one of the few books in my life that I shutdown so early due to such obvious slanted narrative and a stated bit that the rest of the book is based upon the inaccuracies. Shameful that a writer would get a contract to create a book based on the sickly racist and bigoted views presented within the first 20 pages of this book.

I should expect I would come across such volumes when sampling through the digital NetGalley, where I can't pick up a physical volume, scan pages and have an idea of what I'm getting into.. I'm writing this months after, as I didn't want to wade into anything else like this. I'm peeking in now and considering trying another.

Wasn't sure how to leave 'Title Feedback', but thought I should leave something.

I can not give a bottom line view as I barely started the book and it would be wrong for me to do that.
To leave this, I am asked to leave some rating.
Thus, the rating is based ONLY upon those 20-some odd pages I read.

This book was mad

this was a really fascinating read, it was a respectful and well-researched book. The author was able to keep me invested.

This is a very well written and researched book about the domestic slave trade. I learned a lot reading this book. It also made me angry and heartbroken. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to know about more hidden history.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have been slowly reading this one. It's a tough book to read, but an important one for sure. Growing up in Canada we learned little "American history" Of course, you would have to be living under a rock not to know about slavery since it spans the world. This book, however, is about three men who would build the largest slave industry in America. Sometimes book like this can be "dry" but I think the author did a good job of presenting us a (obviously) well researched biography and business history involving the three men.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

The Ledger and the Chain by Joshua D. Rothman is a very well researched book that is invaluable for documenting the buying and selling of slaves in America following a few men who took part in this horrible industry. It not only discusses the wealth obtained during their lifetimes, but how it benefited the families long after the Civil War. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more or is really interested in the domestic slave trade.

Wow! This book focuses on the buying and selling of slaves within the US. I have always heard about the triangle and slaves being sent to the US. I have heard about the auctions, but never realized how rampant the trade was between individuals and "traders" once inside the states. I knew that families were often split up, but never realized how far they could have been taken from each other.

This focuses mainly on John Armfield, Rice Ballard and Isaac Franklin, who were respected business men, but also made rich for the transport and selling of slaves. While I knew slavery existed in NC, it really hit home to see cities and towns I have lived near, or been to. It made it "more real" to me to actually know of the places mentioned. Not that I didn't believe it was a part of NC past, but to read the actual places makes a difference.

I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The ledger and the chain is an exhaustive look at how the slaves brought to the United States from overseas during the 19th century were integrated into the American economic system, following the lives of 3 slave traders before the Civil War.
Joshua Rothman brilliantly decorticates for the reader the complexities of the business mechanism behind the vast domestic network that allowed some individuals to become immensely wealthy while trading human beings as if they were livestock, how important their business activities were to the general economy of the country and how widely accepted and even respected they were within their respective community and in the country at large. An important addition to the studies on slavery and its economic aspects in America. A haunting but compelling book to read.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Basic Books for giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful book prior to its release date

Joshua Rothman's powerful new book about the domestic slave trade in the United States is immacuately researched and thoughtfully argued. After congress banned the international slave trade in 1808, a thriving business developed: selling enslaved human beings from one owner to another, from one region to another. This kind of trade shaped not only the economics and demographic of the country but also its entire culture. By focussing on one large slave trading operation, Rothman is able to tell an almost intimate story with unbelievably large resonances. A tremendously important read that will help us understand not only slavery but nineteenth century history more broadly.

This is a valuable contribution to the historiography of slavery. The slave trade is often tangentially referenced in discussions about the institution. If there have been detailed works, it usually focuses about the transatlantic trade (and "middle passage") from Africa to the Americas. Rothman's book fills a gap in our understanding of the horrible treatment of black Americans.

The main takeaway here is that slavery is a business, a capitalist venture built upon exploitation of other humans. Centering the narrative on the business of key traders, Rothman's work is very much in the same vein of recent history on enslavement, such as Edward Baptist. Much like historians have argued that Nazis corrupted and adopted modern technology and social institutions to carry out the Holocaust (train system, scientific management) Rothman implies that same thing happened in America with its subjugation of peoples.

It's a harrowing story, that really brings to life the capacity of man to treat people as no more than a thing, an item. Furthermore, the slave trade was a product of its time. We cannot discuss the first Industrial Revolution and the economic advancement of the US in the early 1800s without mentioning how the slave trade was part of this. It benefited from it, it grow from it. Such a thesis makes us reconsider whether all of these actions were really towards "progress"