The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist

Since its publication in 2014, "The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism" by Cornell University history professor Edward E. Baptist has become a powerful and revealing work of scholarship. The book aims to upend traditional accounts of the economic development of the United States and provides an alternative narrative that tackles the unspoken truth of how America truly achieved its economic dominance in the world.

By shifting the focus from stories of merchants, entrepreneurs, and bankers to African American slaves and the capital generated by their labor, Baptist seeks to reframe the history of the growth of the US economy and offer a radical new interpretation of the American experience.

The book begins by investigating the use of violence and coercion in the slave labor system. Baptist looks at the system of forced labor and its effects on the African American experience. He argues that slavery was inextricably linked to the development of the US economy, accounting for a large part of the capital that fueled it. He also introduces the concept of the slave labor-capital nexus, which suggested that capital accumulated from slave labor was key to the industrialization of the US South.

Baptist then goes on to discuss the unraveling of the slave system in the Reconstruction era. He argues that the end of slavery did not result in a "de facto" form of freedom for African American Citizens. Instead, he highlights the debt peonage and sharecropping systems that replaced slavery as a form of coerced labor. He explains that African American laborers were unable to break from the shackles of agricultural labor and many became emotionally, spiritually and financially poorer.

The Half Has Never Been Told also examines the influence of capitalism and its impact on the development of the United States. Baptist looks at the vital role the banking industry and capital markets had in driving of economic activity, arguing that bankers and financiers benefited far more than did laborers. He also explores the role government policies played in encouraging and supporting an economic structure based on racial inequality.

The book ends by exploring mass migrations of African Americans to cities in the northeast and midwest, citing the adoption of legalized discrimination as a contributing factor. Baptist traces the development of racialized, economic divides, pointing to how all facets of society, including government, businesses, and individuals, were complicit in reinforcing and perpetuating racial divisions that continued to this day.

The Half Has Never Been Told offers an eye-opening and comprehensive account of how slavery and the forced labor of African Americans played an undeniable role in the rise of U.S. capitalism, and is an important work for anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of the complex history of the United States. It's a timely reminder of the power of capital, and a rich contribution to the literature on both African American history and the development of the United States.