Review by Choice Review
Andreau (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris) and Descat (Univ. of Bordeaux, France), in a book translated from French of only 168 pages, provide an overview of both Greek and Roman slavery. So brief a work on so broad a topic necessitates thin coverage; while they address briefly some scholarly disagreements over ancient slavery, they seldom go into depth. One would have welcomed more development of the reality of slaves' lives--more color in the blandness of their presentation--but that would have produced a much longer book. The authors' conclusions seem sensible (for instance, that classical Greece and Rome were "slave societies"), and Leopold's translation is clear and graceful, but their treatment of evidence can be high-handed, superficial, or both. Two weaknesses: while the book has many notes, it has no bibliography; the notes overlook key works in English on ancient slavery, though they do mention many recent French, German, and Italian studies. These flaws affect the book's usefulness for students on Greek and Roman social history, since it cannot serve as a guide for research papers. Summing Up: Optional. Undergraduate collections. J. M. Williams SUNY Geneseo
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
