A Crime So Monstrous: Face-To-Face with Modern-Day Slavery

"A Crime So Monstrous" presents a gripping, first-hand account of modern day human slavery. Author Benjamin Skinner takes readers into the dark underworld of human bondage and exploitation that is all but a plane and cab ride from the life of luxury we enjoy in the West. Skinner traveled the world to meet slavetraders, slaves and ex-slaves. He tells the stories of several individuals who have been subjected to horrific, inhumane treatment and put through the most horrendous of conditions. The result is an intense, authentic book that people must read. Skinner hits the most desperate locales where today's slavery has taken hold. The seediest spots in Haiti, Moldova, Sudan, India, and Dubai set the scenes of the book. Skinner tells the stories of victims of slavery from each of those regions. But he does so in a way that both details some of the horrors they experienced while giving voice to their dignity and pointing to their hopes of overcoming the challenges that remain for former slaves once the chains have been broken. Along the way, Skinner also meets with former U.S. Ambassador John Miller, who headed the U.S. State Departments office to combat trafficking in human persons. Skinner's portrait of Amb. Miller is enjoyable and offers a bit of relief to readers. This book is NOT light reading. It can be just plain difficult to pick up on a sunny day. The horrors of slavery can certainly make one want to avoid it. But the fact that the evil of slavery exists in the world today is reason itself to read this important book. Skinner adopts modern-day abolitionist Kevin Bales' definition of "slave": a person who is compelled to work, through force or fraud, for no pay beyond subsistence. This definition seems right to me. Apparently, there is some debate in abolitionist circles about the definition of slavery--or at least debate over what the emphasis of anti-slavery efforts should be today. "Wage slavery" and sex slavery are both evils, but some abolitionists differ in means and priorities in eradicating them both. Skinner gets into the fray here, and gives a picture of Michael Horowitz that is none too complimentary. This reviewer simply doesn't have the background to assess all of Skinner's evaluations. But readers of the book should at least take time to read Logan Paul Gage's May 5, 2008 "First Things" review of Skinner's book to get another perspective. If slavery isn't wrong, nothing is wrong. "A Crime So Monstrous" is a book about an evil that must be stopped. Get it. Read it.

Benjamin Skinner traveled around the world to witness firsthand the drudgery, abuse and depravity of modern-day slavery; he probably saw a good deal more than could fit into his book, which is an unsparing account of just how horrible and widespread slavery is. Skinner's writing is evocative. He brings to life various places around the globe including Haiti's cities and countryside, Romanian slums, the desert of Sudan, night clubs in Dubai, rural mines in India, and a well-to-do American suburb; his descriptions of human degradation, cruelty and greed are sickening. He talks to slaves (both current and former), slave traders, slave owners, anti-slavery activists, and government officials; throughout the book he also tells the story of U.S. official John Miller and his uphill and exhausting battle against slavery worldwide. To get some of his stories Skinner actually had to pose at various times as a potential slave buyer, and he briefly touches on the ethics of that choice (as well as his decision not to buy people's freedom from slave traders). He succeeds in conveying the complexity of slavery, how and why it continues to exist and the various forms that it takes. In addition to the harrowing accounts of slaves themselves, he writes about the role that individuals, institutions, cultural norms and socioeconomic factors play in the perpetration of slavery and the creation of circumstances and conditions that allow slavery to flourish. It's frustrating to read about the way governments around the world turn a blind eye to slavery, even while paying lip-service to the idea of fighting it and upholding human dignity. The UN's record on this issue is unsurprisingly disgraceful as well. Skinner relates how UN officials, for political reasons, often refuse to refer to slavery as slavery (preferring terms such as 'abduction', for instance), and half-heartedly spend money on anti-slavery initiatives that are proven failures (he also discusses the complete farce that is the UN Human Rights Commission). The book is detailed, complex and approaches slavery from different angles. In addition to discussing commercial sex slavery, his book brings to light agricultural, industrial and domestic enslavement (where, in addition to backbreaking work for no pay whatsoever, rape and brutality are also commonplace), and slavery in the context of war - as with the cultural and racial genocide waged on black Africans in the Sudan. Into this bleak picture Skinner also brings stories of hope - people who survived slavery, whether as children or adults, and who in spite of their scars have rebuilt their lives; he also profiles individuals who fight against slavery and actively work to rebuild the lives of former slaves and integrate them into society as productive members. Skinner doesn't write these stories with melodrama or sentimentality, but as a means of giving these people a voice and in hopefully motivating the reader to learn more and contribute to th

This edgy, unflinching study of slavery plunges us into the bowels of countries I wouldn't want to fly over, let alone visit. As he calmly haggles down the price of human beings with grinning men and women, the author plays out roles that professional actors might flinch at. Of course for Skinner, there must have been no rehearsals, no second takes. It must have been raw. And yet somehow he still manages to weave in elegant and even beautiful prose - the evocative phrase describing India's enslaved `human jackhammers' is now permanently lodged in my lexicon - and even a few comic moments to relieve our tension. This book has been rightly compared with two brilliant, prize-winning books on genocide, and yet in some ways the author lures us farther and further into strange new territory. He explores the human nature and contours of an evil that has more shades of grey and more intimacy than genocide, an evil that appears to be expanding into new shadows and metastasizing like the hydra he describes at one point, rather than contracting under sunlight of exposure. It also, I think, requires a different kind of discipline: one has to interview the living victims and perpetrators of slavery as evil unfolds in the present, rather than probe unreliable memories to reconstruct horrific events of the past. Skinner's dialogues with hideous people leave us at the end of his book, sitting on the edge of our comfortable sofas, having silent conversations with our conscience, haunted in the best possible way.

I had the privilege of reading this book before publication, I was struck by the lengths to which Mr. Skinner traveled to write and research this great book. I confess to being largely ignorant of the volume and nature of human trafficking which still exists, but this book opened my eyes to the mechanics and politics of the oft-ignored plight of millions around the world. I found it very easy to read and that Mr. Skinner's approach provides a comprehensive introduction to one of the world's most troubling problems. You will definitely not be sorry for choosing this book.

An absolutely astounding work of journalism, Ben Skinner's "A Crime So Monstrous" is a veritable call to arms for anyone concerned about the world's most disenfranchised people. By introducing us to his subjects and enabling us to understand both where they have come from and where they are going, Skinner's profiles of modern day slaves are candid, compassionate and completely unique. The writer, who has clearly devoted his heart and soul to his subject, often immersing himself in dangerous situations, exhibits enormous bravery as he details his travels in some of the world's most treacherous terrains. Whether he is infiltrating child slave markets in Haiti or interviewing a former sex slave in Romania, Skinner makes it clear that modern day slavery is a formidable threat to the human species, one that thrives on poverty, misguided policies and multi-sector corruption. But ACSM also proposes and encourages solutions as Skinner illuminates the amazing work of NGOs, ambassadors and activists committed to facilitating sustainable solutions. Clearly one of the best books ever written by a young writer, this is mandatory reading for the human community and one worthy of a permanent home in academic institutions, UN sessions, book clubs, libraries, and human rights circles.