Slavery Today (Groundwork Guides) - Softcover

Going undercover to meet slaves and slaveholders for his book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, Kevin Bales exposed how modern slavery penetrates the global economy and flows into the things we buy. Disposable People was named by the Association of British Universities as one of “100 World-Changing Discoveries” and published in ten languages. He co-founded the NGO Free the Slaves, which has liberated thousands of slaves worldwide. Bales is the Professor of Contemporary Slavery at the University of Nottingham and Lead Author of the Global Slavery Index. The film based on his work, Slavery: A Global Investigation, won a Peabody and two Emmys. Check out his TED Talk.

Becky Cornell has published on US anti-slavery law, and is an aide in the United States Congress, where she serves an advisor on human trafficking and human rights. She lives in Washington. Jane Springer is the author of Genocide, part of the Groundwork Guides series for which she is also the series editor. She is a consultant in international development and has lived and worked in Mozambique and India. She is the author of Listen to Us: The World's Working Children and translator of the Portuguese-language books Nest Egg and Tales from the Amazon. Jane Springer lives in Toronto.

Authoritative and passionate, this small book by leaders of the antislavery movement is a horrifying account of contemporary slavery across the globe. Part of the Groundwork Guides series, it discusses numbers (about 27 million slaves today), causes (including war, corruption, and poverty), and conditions (today, slaves are cheap and that makes them disposable, thrown out when weak or sick), all within an overview that shows that human trafficking now is often in children, whether as soldiers, prostitutes, or forced labor. The disturbing subject matter is not easy reading, and some of the text is dense. But sidebars throughout the book tell individual stories, including an interview with one child. For readers who want to get involved, he is clear that the boycott of goods produced by slaves is not the answer; in fact, boycott could increase poverty, which is the root cause of the problem. Instead, the authors give realistic suggestions about how to move past outrage and into sustainable efforts towards change. Extensive back matter includes Web sites and lists of organizations. Grades 10-12. --Hazel Rochman