Then she reached Chapter Eleven: "The Present Tense: Debt Bondage and Human Trafficking." The authors had updated it as late as 2020. A case study detailed a brick kiln in Pakistan where entire families worked for three generations to pay off a loan of $12. The footnote directed to a UN report from 2019. And then, a sidebar: a list of supply chains for electronics, cocoa, and garments, with a single, chilling line: “For a full audit, see Appendix D: Commodity Flows, 2000–2018.”

– The official publisher’s platform. You can buy individual chapters or the full eBook (approx. $150–250 USD). Often accessible via academic login.

It is a common misconception that slavery ended when the chains fell off. We teach children a clean narrative: the 19th century arrived, the moral arc of the universe bent toward justice, laws were passed, and the institution died.

"The Cambridge World History of Slavery, Volume 4" is not light reading; it is an academic heavyweight. But its weight is its value. It refuses to let the reader settle into comfortable myths about human progress.

Summary

Use WorldCat.org to find the physical or e-book version at a library near you. Many libraries offer an "Interlibrary Loan" service where they can secure a digital copy of a chapter for you.