. >> host: linda stephenson, there's a series that your book is a part of. what is that traffic it's called the what is series by policy press. and that is to give, you know, the reading audience an opportunity to learn about important issues of topics in actually world history that they might be interested in. so it gives them a broad introduction to various topics, whether it's slavery, whether it's african-american history, whether it's gender history, whether it's the french revolution, et cetera, et cetera pick those topics the capture one's imagination of perhaps he didn't have a chance to take a class in college or he didn't have a chance to see that pbs series or something like that. it gives you an opportunity to learn something. it's a fairly short format. >> host: does a lot of first-person accounts in your book. where did you do your research? >> guest: first of all i'm from virginia which was really the center of slavery in the colonial period, and slavery remains aboard up until the time of the civil war there and through the civil war. so i ki