{"product_id":"masters-of-violence-tristan-stubbs-9781611178845","title":"Masters of Violence: The Plantation Overseers of Eighteenth-Century Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom trusted to tainted, an examination of the shifting perceived reputation of overseers of enslaved people\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the antebellum southern United States, major landowners typically hired overseers to manage their plantations. In addition to cultivating crops, managing slaves, and dispensing punishment, overseers were expected to maximize profits through increased productivity--often achieved through violence and cruelty. In\u003ci\u003e Masters of Violence, \u003c\/i\u003e Tristan Stubbs offers the first book-length examination of the overseers--from recruitment and dismissal to their relationships with landowners and enslaved people, as well as their changing reputations, which devolved from reliable to untrustworthy and incompetent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the beginning of the eighteenth century, slave owners regarded overseers as reliable enforcers of authority; by the end of the century, particularly after the American Revolution, plantation owners viewed them as incompetent and morally degenerate, as well as a threat to their power. Through a careful reading of plantation records, diaries, contemporary newspaper articles, and many other sources, Stubbs uncovers the ideological shift responsible for tarnishing overseers' reputations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this book, Stubbs argues that this shift in opinion grew out of far-reaching ideological and structural transformations to slave societies in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia throughout the Revolutionary era. Seeking to portray slavery as positive and yet simultaneously distance themselves from it, plantation owners blamed overseers as incompetent managers and vilified them as violent brutalizers of enslaved people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Tristan Stubbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1611178843\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781611178845\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of South Carolina Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/15\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.20w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2019","brand":"Tristan Stubbs","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44078505885951,"sku":"9781611178845","price":46.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_068be645-7c17-4abc-9c73-32d55d5f897b.jpg?v=1685475906","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/masters-of-violence-tristan-stubbs-9781611178845","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}