![]() ![]() Planters allocated and reallocated slaves' labor from task to task, precisely monitored their productivity, and depreciated their "human capital" decades before depreciation became a common accounting technique. Drawing on extensive archival research into plantation accounting practices, the author argues that the harsh realities of slavery were compatible with a highly quantitative, calculating style of management. The book sheds light on the often-overlooked role that accounting played in the system of slavery and the exploitation of human beings for profit. The traditional story of modern management focuses on the factories of England and New England, largely ignoring plantation economies. The author, Caitlin Rosenthal, provides a detailed history of how slave owners used accounting practices to manage their plantations and the enslaved people who worked on them. ![]() More broadly, the book explores the complex relationship between slavery and capitalism in American history. Accounting for Slavery examines the quantitative management of slave plantations in both the West Indies and the American South. Caitlin Rosenthals monograph Accounting for Slavery examines the interface of business, accounting, and slave histories on both ante- and post-bellum. Far from lagging behind Northern manufacturers, the most sophisticated Southern planters used complex management techniques, measuring and monitoring their human capital with precision. ![]() Ruination and Revolution Suffering Gain and It Remain The Speculative Freedom of Early Liberia. Accounting for Slavery offers a history of business and management practices on slave plantations in the British West Indies and the American South, covering the century from approximately 1780-1880. Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management. ![]()
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