American Mirror: The United States and Brazil in the Age of Emancipation

Slavery was an integral part of the production of agricultural commodities in the US and Brazil. When slavery ended in 1865 and 1888, it led to immediate and continuous economic progress. Roberto Saba's American Mirror investigates how American and Brazilian reformers worked together to ensure that slave emancipation would advance the interests of capital. This coalition of Americans and Brazilians promoted labor-saving machinery, new transportation technology, scientific management, and technical education to improve production and increase trade. It challenges commonly held ideas about slavery and its demise in the Western Hemisphere.

Format: Hardback
Length: 392 pages
Publication date: 23 November 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press

In the 19th century, the United States and Brazil were the world's largest slave societies, enslaving millions of people. Slavery was crucial for producing agricultural commodities for the global market, and elites feared its abolition would harm their countries. However, when slavery ended in 1865 and 1888, respectively, it led to immediate and continuous economic progress.

In his book "American Mirror," Roberto Saba explores how American and Brazilian reformers worked together to ensure that slave emancipation would advance the interests of capital. Saba examines how antislavery reformers fostered capitalist development in a transnational context. From the 1850s to the 1880s, a coalition of Americans and Brazilians, including diplomats, engineers, entrepreneurs, journalists, merchants, missionaries, planters, politicians, scientists, and students, collaborated to consolidate wage labor as the dominant production system in their countries. These reformers were not romantic humanitarians but cosmopolitan modernizers who promoted labor-saving machinery, new transportation technology, scientific management, and technical education. They successfully implemented these innovations to improve production and increase trade.

"American Mirror" challenges commonly held ideas about slavery and its demise in the Western Hemisphere by demonstrating the crucial role of slave emancipation in the making of capitalism. The book sheds light on the complex and multifaceted ways in which slavery and capitalism intertwined, and how the abolition of slavery paved the way for economic growth and development in both the United States and Brazil.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691190747