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Southern Slavery: As It Was

Douglas Wilson (Goodreads Author),

Steve Wilkins

liked it 3.00 · Rating details · 55 ratings · 14 reviews

How is it that a pervasively Christian culture could have supported slavery? While opposing the South's abuses and racism, this essay seeks to correct some of the gross slanders of that culture. It explains Scripture's defense of a form of slavery against evangelicals who are embarrassed by it. ...more

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· 55 ratings · 14 reviews

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Aug 30, 2012 Joseph rated it did not like it

Shelves: theology

I may be a Christian, but that doesn't mean I don't think that this book manages to push race relations back 150 years.

It's not as though it is devoid of good points - it isn't just "those n*ggers are a bunch of animals anyway." The authors insist that they are not racist and that racism is evil (I'll leave that to the reader as to whether or not they buy that). Be that as it may, this is is pro-confederate, pro-slavery garbage that is backed up by some pretty questionable historical data that y I may be a Christian, but that doesn't mean I don't think that this book manages to push race relations back 150 years.

It's not as though it is devoid of good points - it isn't just "those n*ggers are a bunch of animals anyway." The authors insist that they are not racist and that racism is evil (I'll leave that to the reader as to whether or not they buy that). Be that as it may, this is is pro-confederate, pro-slavery garbage that is backed up by some pretty questionable historical data that you'd think was written by an angry klansman than two educated ministers. Don't ya know? The northerners were a bunch of unitarians who hated God while in the south everyone was good and godly Christians. Abolition slavery was a means of destroying the republic of our founding fathers and creating a massive centralized federal government (such as with the passing of those awful 13th and 14th amendments which insisted that blacks not be enslaved and that people be treated equally under law...). A few passages of scripture are used within context, but the meanings are then extrapolated to say that slavery is, if not good, is at the very least something that should be given the benefit of the doubt. It also spends a lot of time talking about how great slavery was for blacks. I honestly do not think that it is hyperbole, given what is written here, that the authors would not be opposed to legalizing slavery again. After all, since God did not outright ban it for first century Christians, as long as they treated their slaved well, surely there were no historical or cultural circumstances that made it better to allow it under strict guidelines in that context than outright prohibit it, but rather it is something that is part of His word for all time...

Lastly, the historical claims are widely panned by those who actually study history and aren't part of neo-confederate groups (such as the League of the South, on which Wilkins used to sit on the board). If you read this book, and you do so in good faith and not just because you are a racist and want a good excuse to enslave those brown people, take the time to read pretty much any academic review of this work (like "Southern Slavery as it Wasn't" by Sean M. Quinlan and William L. Ramsey - it's rather liberal, but effective nonetheless). ...more

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Aug 01, 2010 rachel rated it did not like it

This book was better in the original German.

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Nov 02, 2019 trevor rated it did not like it

Wish I could give it zero stars. Slavery = Bad. End of discussion.

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Mar 20, 2012 Rick Davis rated it really liked it

Shelves: modern-history, civil-war, the-south

I actually read this book back in 2007 and even wrote a review for it, but for some reason I never posted it to Goodreads. Here it is:

---------------

I finally read for the first time, the uber "controversial" booklet by Dougs Wilson and Jones, "Southern Slavery As It Was." I figured since our church has been refused three locations for our Conference on the Family featuring Doug Wilson because of the "controversy" surrounding him, I might as well see what the big deal was all about. I read it. T ...more

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Sep 15, 2009 Abrahamus rated it it was ok

Shelves: history-culture

There's been a small firestorm of controversy around this one in recent years. The main points that should be gleaned from this good if imperfect work are, as follows: 1) racism is always a sinful affront to God 2) slavery is always the result of sin on somebody's (usually everybody's) part 3) chattel slavery as practiced in pre-1865 America was a particularly sin-prone institution, without which we are all better off 4) all that said, the realities of the slave-holding South were far less one d ...more

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Aug 07, 2014 Sean McGowan rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, cultural-issues

This book has been attacked by so many. It is incredible to hear the attacks Wilson has received because of it. Yet when you actually read it, those accusations disappear. This was a good analysis of the subject.

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Jun 11, 2009 G.M. Burrow rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history

Yeah, read this and then tell Harriet Beecher Stowe to suck it up.

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Dec 06, 2015 Paul added it

Shelves: history, christian

whatever the facts of the argument, has done much to damage Wilsons name

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Nov 02, 2021 Beth rated it did not like it

Shelves: wtf-was-i-thinking

Zero stars. The authors of this book do their level best to excuse literally breeding humans to sell for profit, beating them when they do not work, raping the women AND the men, selling the children away from the mothers after forcing her to bear them over and over again by men she does not know or care for and who do not know or care for her...The list of atrocities goes on.

And folks read this and think it is "fair" and "honest".

The inhumanity. ...more

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Aug 20, 2022 Benjamin Britton rated it did not like it

If only there were a lower rating…

This book is just a repackaging of Southern pro-slavery propaganda in a form that is not even veiled at all.
Total rubbish.
Worse than dog shit.

Also, just as an aside: Doug Wilson is a terrible writer. He makes almost no substantial points. He does not make citations for most of his information. He writes in riddles making it difficult to parse out the horrific things he is actually saying.

This is the lowest of the low.

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Dec 08, 2018 Jon Harris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: southern-history, american-history, christian, black-history, church-history

Succinct, accurate, and fair. Highly recommend.

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Aug 05, 2022 Ann Edwards rated it did not like it

I had to give it one star in order to write a review.

This is another effort to rewrite or whitewash the history of slavery.

We were not friends. Had we been friends, there would have been no need for whippings, lynchings, torture, the sale of Black children, or the harsher less spoken of sins - rape of men women, and children; and murder for sport.

There were no sleepovers.

There are slave narratives available given by the people who were enslaved at that time. Do a little research.

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