{"product_id":"a-terrible-intimacy-interracial-life-in-the-slaveholding-south-hardcover","title":"A Terrible Intimacy: Interracial Life in the Slaveholding South (Hardcover)","description":"\u003ch1\u003e\u003cb\u003eby Melvin Patrick Ely\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #24d7de;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eDescription \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mobile-about-the-book\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mobile-about-the-book\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mobile-about-the-book\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFrom a Bancroft Prize-winning historian, a revelatory new account of slavery, uncovering a surprising web of relationships between Black and white people that ranges far beyond the familiar template of “master-slave” dynamics\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #ffffff;\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mobile-about-the-book\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA white man hosts a wedding party for his Black servant and finds himself charged with a criminal offense; an overseer ends up dead after getting drunk with a slave; two men, one poor and white and the other enslaved, team up to plot a murder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Terrible Intimacy\u003c\/em\u003e recounts six criminal cases in one Virginia county in the years preceding the Civil War. Witnesses of both races describe a startling variety of encounters between white and Black that reconfigures the binary terrain of “master-slave” relations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eContrary to our common assumption, fully half the enslaved people in the South lived not on sprawling plantations but on small properties. Cruelty was baked into the system, yet in households of five, ten, fifteen, or twenty people, exploiters and exploited knew each other well, sharing religious worship, folkways, and complex domestic dynamics. Slaves, slave owners, overseers, and poor whites drank, played, slept, and even committed crimes together. Yet whippings happened often, enslaved families were split up, and in 1861, most white men in Prince Edward County were ready to fight to defend their right to own other human beings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese webs of interaction make clear that white Americans recognized the humanity of their Black neighbors, even as they remained committed to a system that abused and sometimes terrorized them. Offering striking new insights into the true complexity of life in the old South, \u003cem\u003eA Terrible Intimacy \u003c\/em\u003eexpands our understanding of this darkest of histories.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #24d7de;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eMelvin Patrick Ely\u003c\/b\u003e is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities and Professor of History at the College of William \u0026amp; Mary, having earlier taught history and African American studies at Yale. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #24d7de;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCategory: \u003c\/b\u003eNonfiction, History\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage: \u003c\/b\u003eEnglish\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat\/Binding: \u003c\/b\u003eHardcover\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBook Condition: \u003c\/b\u003eNew\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cspan\u003e0593537696\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/b\u003e978-\u003cspan\u003e0593537695\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Henry Holt and Co.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDate Published:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cspan\u003eApril 14, 2026\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages: \u003c\/b\u003e368\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cb\u003eTerms of Sale\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eAll book sales are final. No returns or exchanges.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePurchaser will receive a new book that has never been read.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book will be shipped within 7 business days of receipt of order via a major mail carrier (USPS, UPS, FedEX, or DHL) and may take up to 14 days to arrive depending on the carrier and destination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInternational shipping is also available.\u003cspan style=\"color: #24d7de;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mr. Well-Travelled","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50697356574913,"sku":null,"price":47.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/4756\/3713\/files\/9781250381118_-_A_Terrible_Intimacy-_Interracial_Life_in_the_Slaveholding_South_-_Melvin_Patrick_Ely_-_shop_mrwelltravelled_-_black_owned_online_bookstore_-_everydayisjuneteenth.jpg?v=1791357522","url":"https:\/\/shop.mrwelltravelled.com\/en-ca\/products\/a-terrible-intimacy-interracial-life-in-the-slaveholding-south-hardcover","provider":"Mr. Well-Travelled","version":"1.0","type":"link"}