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Kevin Bales

Goodreads author profile

born

Tulsa, The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.freetheslaves.net

genre

Nonfiction

influences

Adam Hochschild, Kurt Vonnegut, Sinclair Lewis, William Faulkner, Ursu...more

member since

December 2007

About this author

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News in July 2011 - I'm nearing completion of a new book that explores the strong link between slavery and environmental destruction. Around the world much of the devastation of tropical forests, protected habitats, and endangered species is being carried out by enslaved workers. This link is very important - environmental laws and treaties will not work when the criminals that use slaves are destroying the natural world. They could care less about such laws. When the environmental movement and the anti-slavery movement joins hands then both will be more efficient and successful. Look for this book in 2012

Also - there will be a new edition of Disposable People next year with a preface that explores all that has happened since it was publish...more News in July 2011 - I'm nearing completion of a new book that explores the strong link between slavery and environmental destruction. Around the world much of the devastation of tropical forests, protected habitats, and endangered species is being carried out by enslaved workers. This link is very important - environmental laws and treaties will not work when the criminals that use slaves are destroying the natural world. They could care less about such laws. When the environmental movement and the anti-slavery movement joins hands then both will be more efficient and successful. Look for this book in 2012

Also - there will be a new edition of Disposable People next year with a preface that explores all that has happened since it was published in 1999.

MORE NEWS: In November, Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves won the $100,000 Grawemeyer Award for ideas that promote world order. The same week it was chosen for translation and publication in Finland.

NEWS: In June Ron Soodalter and I published The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today. It is getting great reviews and we're doing a lot of radio and TV. I'd love to hear what people think of it.

I'm a guy that grew up in Oklahoma thinking if the whole world is as quiet as this place I better cram life to the fullest. The good news: the world is often much more interesting than Oklahoma. I lived a long time in London, and now live in DC. For the last 14 years all my work has been about modern slavery - real slavery, not sweatshops, or bad marriages, or not being able to stop shopping. Back in 1999 I published a book about contemporary slavery that changed my life. It went into 10 languages, got made into a movie, won some prizes, stuff like that. Since then I've published three more books, and three more will come out in 2008.

In Sept 2007 I published a book that is a plan for the eradication of global slavery. It's called Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves. This is what people said about it:

“None of us is truly free while others remain enslaved. The continuing existence of slavery is one of the greatest tragedies facing our global humanity. Today we finally have the means and increasingly the conviction to end this scourge and to bring millions of slaves to freedom. Read Kevin Bales' practical and inspiring book and you will discover how our world can be free at last.” -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“I was enslaved at age 11 as part of a human trafficking plot. I know modern slavery from the inside, and since coming to freedom I am committed to end it forever. Every human life has value. People have been sold for far too long and it's time to stop it. This book shows us how to make a world where no more childhoods will be stolen and sold as mine was.” Given Kachepa, former child slave in the United States.

“Ever since the Emancipation Proclamation, Americans have congratulated themselves on ending slavery once and for all. But did we? Kevin Bales is a powerful and effective voice in pointing out the appalling degree to which servitude, forced labor and outright slavery still exist in today's world, even here. This book is a valuable primer on the persistence of these evils, their intricate links to poverty, corruption and globalization--and what we can do to combat them. He's a modern-day William Lloyd Garrison.”
--Adam Hochschild, author of Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves

Here's the other bio. stuff: My book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy published in 1999, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and has now been published in ten other languages. Archbishop Desmond Tutu called it “a well researched, scholarly and deeply disturbing expose of modern slavery”. A revised edition was published in 2005. In 2006 my work was named one of the top “100 World-Changing Discoveries". The Italian edition of Disposable People won th(less)

combine editions
Books by Kevin Bales

Average rating: 4.16 · 650 ratings · 116 reviews · 13 distinct works

	Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy 4.24 avg rating — 420 ratings — published 1999 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today by Kevin Bales (Goodreads Author), Ron Soodalter 3.97 avg rating — 93 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves 3.99 avg rating — 73 ratings — published 2007 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader 4.20 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People by Kevin Bales (Goodreads Author), Zoe Trodd, Alex Kent Williamson 3.92 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions	My rating:
	To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today's Slaves 4.46 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2008 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Slavery Today 3.75 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2008 — 4 editions	My rating:
	New Slavery 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	Documenting Disposable People: Contemporary Global Slavery by Kevin Bales (Goodreads Author), Roger Malbert (Introduction), Mark Sealy (Introduction) 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2008	My rating:
	Hidden Slaves - Cancelled: Forced Labor in the United States 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2004	My rating:

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Kevin's Recent Updates

Kevin is now friends with Cory Smith
May 16, 2012 06:34pm
Kevin made a comment on Sarah Anne's review of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers "I was watching a Six Feet Under DVD and in a couple of episodes they kept handing this book to each other. Curious, I downloaded it to my iPod - great...more "
Sep 30, 2009 02:34pm · see review
Kevin liked Megan's review of Disposable People: " If a friend hadn't invited me to a discussion group on this book, I never would have picked it up. Somehow the author managed to interview current and former slaves from Mauritania to Paris, retell their stories, contextualize the economic systems... " Read more of this review »
Sep 21, 2008 07:03pm · see review
Kevin liked Erin's review of Disposable People: " You must read this book, which is enlightening and terrifying, but also talks about the specific reasons these horrors have happened, and continue to happen. "
May 19, 2008 06:02pm · see review
Kevin liked Heather's review of Disposable People: " I picked this up on a trip to Arkansas. I got this one at the headquarters for Heifer Project International. Desmond Tutu says this book is "A well-researched, scholarly and deeply disturbing expose of modern day slavery with well-thought-out stra... " Read more of this review »
May 19, 2008 06:01pm · see review