There Are No Slaves in France examines the paradoxical emergence of political antislavery and institutional racism in the century prior to the French Revolution. Sue Peabody shows how the political culture of late Bourbon France created ample opportunities for contestation over the meaning of freedom. Based on various archival sources, this work will be of interest not only to historians of slavery and France, but to scholars interested in the emergence of modern culture in the Atlantic world.

Prizes

Winner of Chosen as an Outstanding Academic Book of 1997 by Choice.

"...a superb scholarly investigation of the so-called 'Freedom Principle'....Strongly based on archival research, this well-written study deserves wide readership."--Choice
"...grounded firmly in archival research and a comprehensive survey of secondary material."--History
"The book is a good example of the wealth of information that can be gleaned from an examination of legal cases. Peabody's scholarly monograph is a welcome addition to what is still a narrow shelf of books and articles about race and slavery in eighteenth-century France."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"Peabody has produced a solid piece of legal and social history....this is an impressively researched, exhaustively documented book, a model of how to exploit archival and legal primary sources. It should prove to be the definitive study of the slavery question in mainland France prior to the French Revolution."--American Historical Review