An excellent introduction to the topic; I'm glad I started here. The writing is clear and understandable; it's definitely academic, but not as dry as it could have been. The chapters are nice and short, each giving a brief over-view of a particular time and place. It's never an easy read, especially when covering the horrific sadism of masters through-out history, and especially awkward (as a Brit) to read of the hypocrisy and horrors perpetrated by the British and their descendents.
Most books on slavery are either about ancient Greece and Rome or the United States. This book certainly focused on Rome and the Americas, but I learnt more than I expected other societies. I was especially interested to read about slavery as it was practised in many African societies before the arrival of European traders, and how centuries of increasing demand for slaves from European and Arab traders destroyed the civilisations of Africa as it became more and more profitable for Africans to abandon trade and turn to raiding their neighbours. There was also an interesting comment about the Native tribes of America, some of whom also took up plantation slavery like the white Americans. I'd never heard anything of that before!
There was very little about slavery in the far east until the final chapters discussing modern day slavery. This is a pity because there doesn't seem to much written on the subject in English, and it must be interesting, given how much longer civilisation has been flourishing in China and India than in Europe. ( )