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Herbert Gutman’s The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925: A Cliometric Reconsideration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Warren C. Sanderson*
Affiliation:
Stanford University

Extract

Gutman’s study of the black family is one of those books which serve as a constant inspiration to academics. In those dreary moments when we wrestle with a particularly subtle point or phrase, a fleeting question occurs to most of us. How many people will really appreciate the depth of our thinking or the way in which the prose really captures the essence of the phenomenon being explained? But when such pernicious thoughts disturb our concentration, the example of Gutman’s work can banish them, for this book has had more reviewers than some technical pieces have had serious readers. Indeed the November 1978 SSHA session indicates that it still continues. Not only has Gutman’s book been seriously read and pondered, but there are a substantial number of pages in print to indicate that all the subtleties have been duly appreciated.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1979

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