The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST | WINNER OF THE BANCROFT PRIZE. A landmark work of Indigenous history—the sweeping story of the enslavement of tens of thousands of Indians across America, from the time of the conquistadors up to the early twentieth century.

Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet, as Andrés Reséndez illuminates in his myth-shattering The Other Slavery, it was practiced for centuries as an open secret. There was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of Natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors.

Reséndez builds the incisive case that it was mass slavery—more than epidemics—that decimated Indian populations across North America. Through riveting new evidence, including testimonies of courageous priests, rapacious merchants, and Indian captives, The Other Slavery reveals nothing less than a key missing piece of early American history.

For over two centuries we have fought over, abolished, and tried to come to grips with African American slavery. It is time for the West to confront an entirely separate, equally devastating enslavement we have long failed truly to see.

“The Other Slavery is nothing short of an epic recalibration of American history, one that’s long overdue…In addition to his skills as a historian and an investigator, Résendez is a skilled storyteller with a truly remarkable subject. This is historical nonfiction at its most important and most necessary.” — Literary Hub, 20 Best Works of Nonfiction of the Decade

““One of the most profound contributions to North American history.”—Los Angeles Times

• A Hidden History: Uncover the story of a centuries-long slave trade that operated as an open secret, from the time of the conquistadors to the early twentieth century.
• Myth-Shattering Argument: Explore the incisive case that mass slavery—not disease—was the primary cause for the decimation of Indian populations across North America.
• Primary Source Evidence: Read the riveting testimonies of courageous priests, rapacious merchants, and the Indian captives who lived through this brutal system.
• Confronting the Past: Challenge your understanding of the West by examining a devastating piece of the American story that has been overlooked for far too long.

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A National Book Award finalist  “Reséndez corrects a blind spot in our understanding of North American history and illuminates mechanisms by which present-day versions of the practice endure.”—The New Yorker   "This book is, arguably, one of the most profound contributions to North American history published since Patricia Nelson Limerick's "Legacy of Conquest" and Richard White's "The Middle Ground." But it's not necessary to be into history to understand its power: Our world is still the world Reséndez so eloquently anatomizes." —Los Angeles Times  "The Other Slavery is a necessary work that occupies a loaded historical landscape; Reséndez keeps a deliberate scholarly distance from the material, bringing forth evidence and constructing careful — even conservative — arguments. But that evidence speaks for itself, and the horrors quietly pile up." — NPR.org    “The Other Slavery is nothing short of an epic recalibration of American history, one that’s long overdue…In addition to his skills as a historian and an investigator, Résendez is a skilled storyteller with a truly remarkable subject.  This is historical nonfiction at its most important and most necessary.”—Literary Hub, 20 Best Works of Nonfiction of the Decade?   "No other book before has so thoroughly related the broad history of Indian slavery in the Americas, and not just its facts but the very reason it has been overlooked." —San Francisco Chronicle   "Reséndez is adept at untangling the intertribal slave trade, as well as the pernicious behavior of white settlers in northern California."—Philadelphia Inquirer   "With his new book, Reséndez joins a small but growing group of historians reexamining the scope and nutre of slavery in the Southwest and Native America."—Santa Fe New Mexican   "The Other Slavery is an eye-opening story about the enslavement of Indians. It is well researched and well written—a tragic, but fascinating look at a little explored dark corner of New World history." —eMissourian   “Every now and then a new book comes along that throws a switch on our historical valences and makes us see ourselves anew. The Other Slavery is one such book. Much as Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee did when it first appeared in the early 1970s, Andrés Reséndez's carefully sifted work fundamentally reshapes our understanding of a great enduring mystery: What really accounts for the swift and tragic demise of our continent's indigenous peoples?” —Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder and In the Kingdom of Ice   “In The Other Slavery Andrés Reséndez retells a vast section of Native American and North American history by putting forced labor in its multiple forms at the center. The result is a revealing, tragic, and heartbreaking history.” —Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford University   "This eye-opening exposure of the abuse of the indigenous peoples of America is staggering; that the mistreatment continued into the 20th century is beyond disturbing." —Kirkus   "Emphasizing the variety of experiences of unfree labor suffered over five centuries by individuals from communities as culturally diverse and geographically separate as the Maya, the Apache, and indigenous Caribbeans, Reséndez vividly recounts the harrowing story of a previously little-known aspect of the histories of American slavery and of encounters between indigenes and invaders. " — Publisher's Weekly   "Today, with the complex and myriad effects of globalization frequently in the news, human trafficking has managed to endure. The Other Slavery both reminds and cautions: Man’s inhumanity to man is still making history." — BookPage   “At a time when we are struggling to come to grips with the legacy of our long-time African slavery experience, it is only right that we should also acknowledge and inform ourselves of the human tragedy endured by the indigenous people of this hemisphere from Columbus’ first contact to the present.” — New York Journal of Books