Peter Kolchin is the Henry Clay Reed Professor, emeritus, at the University of Delaware. His books include Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom; American Slavery, 1619–1877; and First Freedom: The Responses of Alabama’s Blacks to Emancipation and Reconstruction. He lives in Newark, DE.

“An enlightening comparative history. . . . Often revelatory for those who may think of the emancipation of enslaved Americans as an almost unique event.”—Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street JournalWinner of the 2025 Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award, sponsored by OAH“A groundbreaking comparative study of the abolition of American slavery and Russian serfdom; Peter Kolchin has put forward a powerful argument for the uniqueness of the process, experience and legacy of emancipation in the United States.”—Enrico Dal Lago, author of Civil War and Agrarian Unrest: The Confederate South and Southern Italy“Comparative history at its best, Peter Kolchin’s Emancipation reinvigorates the long-standing debate on the transition from coerced to free labor. It is a brilliant contribution to our understanding of how capitalism came into being.”—Roberto Saba, author of American Mirror: The United States and Brazil in the Age of Emancipation“A superb, sweeping portrait of the global dimensions of emancipation and the conflict over free labor. Kolchin tells a comparative story of the democratic US and tsarist Russia—how death came to slavery and serfdom, how freedpeople drove transformations of the social and economic order, but how equality remained elusive for those who worked the land in both countries, rendering their worlds eerily alike.”—Amy Dru Stanley, author of From Bondage to Contract: Wage Labor, Marriage and the Market in the Age of Slave Emancipation

Peter Kolchin is the Henry Clay Reed Professor, emeritus, at the University of Delaware. His books include Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom; American Slavery, 1619–1877; and First Freedom: The Responses of Alabama’s Blacks to Emancipation and Reconstruction. He lives in Newark, DE.

“An enlightening comparative history. . . . Often revelatory for those who may think of the emancipation of enslaved Americans as an almost unique event.”—Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street JournalWinner of the 2025 Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award, sponsored by OAH“A groundbreaking comparative study of the abolition of American slavery and Russian serfdom; Peter Kolchin has put forward a powerful argument for the uniqueness of the process, experience and legacy of emancipation in the United States.”—Enrico Dal Lago, author of Civil War and Agrarian Unrest: The Confederate South and Southern Italy“Comparative history at its best, Peter Kolchin’s Emancipation reinvigorates the long-standing debate on the transition from coerced to free labor. It is a brilliant contribution to our understanding of how capitalism came into being.”—Roberto Saba, author of American Mirror: The United States and Brazil in the Age of Emancipation“A superb, sweeping portrait of the global dimensions of emancipation and the conflict over free labor. Kolchin tells a comparative story of the democratic US and tsarist Russia—how death came to slavery and serfdom, how freedpeople drove transformations of the social and economic order, but how equality remained elusive for those who worked the land in both countries, rendering their worlds eerily alike.”—Amy Dru Stanley, author of From Bondage to Contract: Wage Labor, Marriage and the Market in the Age of Slave Emancipation

Peter Kolchin is the Henry Clay Reed Professor, emeritus, at the University of Delaware. His books include Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom; American Slavery, 1619–1877; and First Freedom: The Responses of Alabama’s Blacks to Emancipation and Reconstruction. He lives in Newark, DE.

“An enlightening comparative history. . . . Often revelatory for those who may think of the emancipation of enslaved Americans as an almost unique event.”—Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street JournalWinner of the 2025 Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award, sponsored by OAH“A groundbreaking comparative study of the abolition of American slavery and Russian serfdom; Peter Kolchin has put forward a powerful argument for the uniqueness of the process, experience and legacy of emancipation in the United States.”—Enrico Dal Lago, author of Civil War and Agrarian Unrest: The Confederate South and Southern Italy“Comparative history at its best, Peter Kolchin’s Emancipation reinvigorates the long-standing debate on the transition from coerced to free labor. It is a brilliant contribution to our understanding of how capitalism came into being.”—Roberto Saba, author of American Mirror: The United States and Brazil in the Age of Emancipation“A superb, sweeping portrait of the global dimensions of emancipation and the conflict over free labor. Kolchin tells a comparative story of the democratic US and tsarist Russia—how death came to slavery and serfdom, how freedpeople drove transformations of the social and economic order, but how equality remained elusive for those who worked the land in both countries, rendering their worlds eerily alike.”—Amy Dru Stanley, author of From Bondage to Contract: Wage Labor, Marriage and the Market in the Age of Slave Emancipation