The history courses that I took many years ago in NY schools discussed slavery mostly in the context of Southern plantations. I bought this book hoping to learn about the workings of slavery in my native state. I was very disappointed. On first opening the book, I was astonished to note that the name "Sojourner Truth" is not in the index. I soon realized that Dr. McManus is one of those historians who prefers his history without any people cluttering it up. He has produced a work filled with dates, numbers, laws, statistics and footnotes. But almost all trace of individual slaves and masters has been left out of his version of the history of slavery in NY.

If you are interested in the much-neglected topic of New York's slave history, I recommend _Somewhat More Independent_ by Shane White, who examines both the legal and social aspects of New York's slave society.

This book is just dull. The author doesn't seem really interested in the topic. He doesn't attempt to see slavery from the slaves' point of view. He seems mostly interested in excusing New York for having been the North's largest slaveholding state; he tries to convince the reader that really it wasn't all that bad.