Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom
written by Walter Johnson

Walter Johnson’s astounding tome River of Dark Dreams is sure to prompt heated discussions on the entire history of the U.S.

Like the Japanese novels that were popular in the 1970s and 80s (only in Japan and among bibliophiles) that imagined a post-WWII world whereby Japan won the war, River... is sure to create contention among those who dare to discuss it. Unlike those revisionist novels, however, Johnson’s endeavor is well-founded, brilliantly written and a historical reality that has been historically suppressed for too long.

A possibly defining statement may be found on page 23, early in this work, whereby the reason the Louisiana Purchase occurred may be attributed to a nearly event that remains resonant among Americans of all skin colors and shade.

“The most successful slave revolt in the history of the world and the most democratic of the Atlantic world’s anti- colonial uprisings, the Haitian Revolution drastically diminished the value of the Mississippi Valley to Napoleon.”

It was this remarkable revolt that may have dissuaded France and Spain from joining forces to prevent the newly minted Americans from establishing a significant presence on the delta, along the river and west thereof. Both world powers were well aware of using slave forces to create havoc behind enemy lines, but after the revolt even they realized that the distance and unleashed fury might be too much to handle the area.

Afterward, the empire grew via land speculation that had to be fed by an agrarian base, and that base required labor. From there the area became a voracious industry that required more slaves to produce more cotton, and more cotton to buy more slaves.

In River of Dark Dreams, we read of the vast complexities that led to war, one of the most remarkable ones being the push for world domination—or bust.

($35.00: Belknap Press /Harvard University Press, hardcover, 560 pages)