How to Manage Your Slaves by Jerry Toner

How to Manage Your Slaves by Jerry Toner or, it’s full title: How to Manage Your Slaves by Marcus Sidonius Falx by Jerry Toner, is a fun book. Toner wrote the book in “collaboration” with Falx. In fact, it’s an interpretation of what a Roman would think about slavery and his slaves. It’s a well researched book, written by a Cambridge professor, in a fun and readable way. It seems so realistic that some thought it is a translation of a Roman text. Well, Toner makes it clear in the introduction that it’s his work.

There are all sort of topics covered, from why slavery exists to how to buy a slave (one of my favourite chapters) to how to treat them. At the end of each chapter there are 2 or 3 pages as commentary with details on where the inspiration came from. The stories in the chapters are picked from different books, such as the one written by Pliny. I think the book is very interesting because it is written like that. It makes the subject much more commercial. I bought the book in a museum and that’s the perfect place to get a book like this one. It’s not boring at all.

I liked that he touched on aspects such as religion too. On top of that, at the end of the book he makes it clear that slavery still exists today and, in a couple of ways, it’s even more disturbing and more damaging as it was even in its history.

I highly recommend this book. It’s well worth reading.

How to Manage Your Slaves by Marcus Sidonius Falx by Jerry Toner

Details about the picture: –
My rating: 5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Profile Books
Year it was published: 2015 (first published in 2014)
Format: Paperback
Genre(s): History – Ancient
Pages: 224

About the author: He is Director of Studies in Classics at Churchill, Cambridge, and an Affiliated Lecturer at the Classics Faculty.
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