by Bruce Levine
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Product Description
Revised Edition
With a New Preface and Afterword
In a revised edition, brought completely up to date with a new preface and afterword and an expanded bibliography, Bruce Levine's succinct and persuasive treatment of the basic issues that precipitated the Civil War is as compelling as ever. Levine explores the far-reaching, divisive changes in American life that came with the incomplete Revolution of 1776 and the development of two distinct social systems, one based on slavery, the other on free labor--changes out of which the Civil War developed.
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Average Customer Review:
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Graduate Student Review, 2008-04-03
Bruce Levine's book, Half Slave and Half Free, is written about the divisions in America from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. The slave based economy of the South and the free labor economy of the North and their differences that ultimately lead America to war. In the revised edition of Mr. Levine's book he has written a new preface and afterward and bibliography. He has added information based on new information made available since the book was initially published in 1992. Levine does not use footnotes, but does explain all of his references by chapter in a new bibliography essay.
In the first five chapters Levine discusses the history of slavery and how the southern slave owners felt about their property. The evolution of crops grown in America, especially the South and how slaves were used to farm them is discussed at length. Levine also speaks of the population statistics of the South and says that only one quarter of the white population of the South are slave holders. The typical slave owner of the period, owned five or six slaves and land valued at approximately $3,000. (pp. 21)
Also in the first five chapters Levine discusses the North and the social and economy setting there before the Civil War. He speaks on how the average household and farm is managed with the families providing most of the labor. Levine also explains the fact that many of the poorer white laborers in the North were put or put their selves in bondage as "Bondsmen" to pay their passage. Typically seven years of labor were required then they were set free and established farms or businesses for themselves.
In chapter six Levine describes the beginning of the antislavery movement. The slaves stated that they had to lie to live. The resistance that the slaves used was very covert, deliberate clumsiness and stupidity, making the overseers explains the simplest task over and over. The women would even feign a pregnancy to get out of the fields for a while. The Planters stated they could never get the truth out of their slaves. (pp. 145)
From the antislavery movement Levine speaks about the various issues of allowing slavery into the new states and territories. Southern leaders in Congress such as John C. Calhoun leading other Carolinians against the federal government. Tariffs on imported manufactures were the main issue. Calhoun stated that the South was left with only three choices: (1) assert the power in the reserved rights of the states - that is, "nullify the federal tariffs; (2) submit to have their domestick (sic) institutions exhausted; or (3) in the end be forced to rebel. (pp.162) South Carolina was the most sensitive to any issues against slavery for it had in its borders some of the largest plantations in the South.
The first half of this book explains the point of view of both the South and the North about slavery. Mr. Levine drew upon many sources for his information and in this edition has updated much of his information. The book explains the history and social history behind both sides of the slavery argument. The second half of the book is dedicated to explaining the steps that were taken to dissolve the union. Half Slave and Half Free arguments and facts seem to make the disunion more predestined than it really was. The afterward that is included in the revised edition analyzes some of the reasons for the war. It also presents Lincoln's and Davis views on the war.
Mr. Levine's book is a very worthwhile read for history students, primarily in college, both undergraduate and graduate students. It is well organized and presents the facts and analysis of the events that took place and led America to Civil war.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 Fabulous book, 2007-07-31
This is a wonderful book that is great in the classroom. It is readable with terrific statistics to show the divergences between the North and the South before the Civil War. I have used it in class and my students got a lot out of it.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Thorough, insightful., 2006-04-03
Rarely, do I get excited about classroom readings however, Bruce Levine's Half Slave and Half Free is an insightful look at a pivtoal time in the history of the United States.
Levine's argument in the text is that the deep regional divide which came to inspire the Civil War, was not founded on the principle of slavery but rather the contrast in the socioeconomic structures.
An excellent look at the post revolutionary and pre Civil War United States.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
The other side of the Civil War, The View of Blacks by South, 2002-12-28
levine does a good job on this book.
his research is pretty well. he documents
that the civil war was just about an
economic cycle, a cycle of money for the
white southern man, the rich man to be precise.
i like this book, because there is an inner world
that usually never gets talked about, but levine
proves that the cycle of racism and hatred by the
white man toward the black female and male were
intense.
literature is highly recommended.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
 A Useful Synthesis, 2002-08-18
This is a compact, yet thorough, consideration of U. S. history from the American Revolution to the Civil War. In the acknowledgements Levine states plainly that his book is a "synthesis." The chapters themselves are organized around themes, and are carefully arranged throughout the book serving as building blocks for Levine's argument.
Levine's principal argument is that the essential conflict at the heart of antebellum America is between a free-labor system and a slave-labor system. And it is these systems that subsequently organize and order virtually every aspect of each section-economic, social, cultural, political. In both North and South ideas, beliefs, and mentalities are bundled together and serve to link various, and varied, groups within each section. Consequently, by the outbreak of the Civil War there is widespread support in both the Union and the Confederacy. This book is sometimes densely written, but Levine succeeds in fusing labor history and social history. His bibliography indicates he has drawn on a vast array of sources, tapping into many schools of thought. The argument exists principally in the first half of the book. Subsequently the second half becomes something of a "prelude to disunion" narrative.
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