Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground: Maryland During the Nineteenth Century

There are seemingly as many books on the American Civil War as there are stars in the sky, and one would think that every conceivable topic has been covered adnauseam and in truth, many have been. However, in Slavery on the Middle Ground, Professor Fields has written on a subject which, regrettably, heretofore has gone practically ignored. We need more history books like this one, for of all the many tomes I've read on the Civil War this ranks among the most revealing and interesting. I am not trying to appear politically correct by saying this. I must admit that I picked up this book with some trepidation. My only previous knowledge of Professor Fields was what I saw of her in Ken Burns famous documentary and to be quite frank, my perception was that, while being obviously very knowledgable, her perspective was a bit too narrow. But to my delight, I found this book, while at times justifiably pointed, to be quite balanced in its perspective.Like all too many, I have viewed slavery in the border states, most particularly in my native State of Maryland, as having been almost benign. After all, nearly half of all blacks living in the state were already free before the first shot was fired. Therefore, I assumed that Marylanders must have held a more enlightened view of chattle slavery than their fellow southerners, hence the ratification of the State Constitution of 1864 that emancipated the remaining slaves. Reading this book has taught me how wrong that impression was and has also given me a great deal of insight into the special, though no less horrible, realities of slavery as it existed in Maryland before and during the Civil War. For instance, I found the attempt by southern and eastern shore slaveholders to re-enslave free blacks living within the state's borders prior to the outbreak of hostilities particularly enlightening. I never would have learned about it had I not read this book since, not surprisingly, it was not covered in any other history book that I've read. Nor, for that matter, was the virtual re-enslavement of free blacks through the use of what was euphemistically called apprenticeship laws.Thank you Professor Fields for shedding much needed light on a very difficult subject!