BOOK REVIEWS: The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today

West Coast pro bono manager Charles Song  recently wrote a book review on The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today.

“Slavery in the United States did not really end in 1865 with the 13th Amendment. In The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today, authors Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter say that, according to the U.S. State Department, between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year to work in slave-like conditions. Others claim a much higher figure—as many as 50,000 people, not including the people who are trafficked within the country. This new, ‘equal opportunity’ slavery, which does not discriminate by race, is also characterized as ‘disposable" slavery, because a slave in 1850 cost the equivalent of $40,000 but in today’s currency can be bought for as little as a few hundred dollars.”

“The authors provide a wide range of perspectives in this well-written book.”