Description: This volume explores how profits from slavery underpinned the dissemination of British literature in America during the eighteenth century and how the colonial book market was shaped, in part, by the demand of slave owners for metropolitan cultural capital.
Review Quotes: "The power of this overall argument owes its success, as much as anything, to the effectiveness of the book's structure. Each of the book's five chapters has a dual focus: first, on the history of one of the major pre- Revolutionary libraries in the North American colonies, and second, on a particular literary text circulating among that library's members that illuminates a particular community of readers in a unique way." -- Ezra Tawil, Modern Language Review
"Slavery and the Making of Early American Libraries will be of interest to scholars eager to learn more about the specific institutions Moore has studied as well as the reading lists of their members... I hope future historians will pick up the important work that Moore has started and draw connections between the books in these libraries and the actions of the men who supported them." -- Joseph Rezek, Boston University, Libraries: Culture, History, and Society"...powerful and indignant... brave and passionate..." -- David Wormesley, SEL"Moore's readings are well-considered and compelling, acquiring considerable force both in themselves and through their contexts...That Slavery and the Making of Early American Libraries suggests diverse further angles of inquiry is a testament to the interest and power of what it accomplishes. It provides convincing proofs of its thesis, fruitful readings of its chosen texts, rich seams of fascinating evidence, and an important challenge to its readers, demanding that we recognize ugly truths about the fiscal and ideological underpinnings of early institutional culture." -- Matthew Sangster, Eighteenth-Century Studies