Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War

Incredibly comprehensive and well written tome of world history over the last 500 years. Of all of the history books I've ever read, this book likely had the greatest percentage of historical information that I've never heard before. Essential for filling in blind spots that you don't learn in US high schools or even colleges.

Comprehensive and compelling story of world history and the role blacks played in modernizing civilization. Unfortunately it also reveals the many ways whites maneuvered to use black people for the purpose of white supposed superiority.

I used to ask myself if Africa was part of Western Civilization since it's rarely mentioned when the story is told. The author of Born in Blackness definitively answers that question with his impressively documented, clearly explained telling of the economic impact African resources (gold) and African labor (slaves) had on the development of Western Europe, Africa and the Americas. When Howard French follows the money, we see modern Western Civilization take shape as a result of unacknowledged exploitation and violence.It's not a "feel good" story, but most true stories of great human accomplishment aren't.As an African American, I learned that the success of our modern world would not have been possible without the labor provided by my ancestors; that far from being inconsequential, Blacks were crucial to the capitalistic economic system becoming the financial engine it is today in both Europe and America.I recommend this book to everyone who has the courage to look history squarely in the eye. Forget the fairy tales, and appreciate what all of us did to create our current reality - the good and the terrible.

It’s so worthwhile to explore a history that has been deliberately hidden, and this dense book is nothing if not well researched. My main quibble is that the author spills too much ink explaining why the reader should be outraged. Here, the facts speak for themselves.

Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War, by French, is an exceptional and well written and researched book that challenges the way history has been taught and told by whites. The author digs deep into the historical record to deconstruct three compelling, long-lasting and damaging myths — the era of European explorers, the industrial revolution and American exceptionalism — and then reassembles them, appropriately, around slavery. The modern era, in this more accurate retelling, was driven by greed, built on cruelty, and ushered in by the toil and trauma of enslaved Africans (with a little genocide thrown in for good measure). A long, challenging and worthy read, this book should not be missed.

This is an excellent history of western slavery and the importance of black people in the development of the modern world. That so much here has been previously overlooked is shameful and enlightening.

very good read . tells the truth.

Professor Howard French has written several definitive books of interests. He is a journalist of high standards. This book will reshape your view of the relationship of African people, people of African descent and the modern World. You will not finish this book as an angry person but as an enlightened one. People come to the African continent in search of its natural and human resources, so today is not different from the past. African people and African descended people have significantly shaped the modern world. This is a book that should be read by all.