The notion that slavery kept the South in pre-modern social and economic “shackles” and therefore deprived its people from catching up with the North has been one of the most stubborn arguments among a number of economic historians. Here, Gomez’s and Edward Baptist’s books provide important corrections. Gomez demonstrates that slave holders sought out particular ethnicities to profit from their agricultural expertise, hence the transatlantic slave trade was not only a way to get access to cheap field hands, but also an early form of brain drain that was essential to feed the increasing population of white settlers and their African slaves. The facts and arguments that Baptist presents demonstrate not only how profitable slavery was, but also