Slavery, Disease and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry

Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry by Peter McCandless examines the Carolina lowcountry on the eve of the American Revolution, revealing it as British North America’s wealthiest yet unhealthiest region. The book argues that extreme wealth from rice cultivation and profound human suffering through slavery and rampant diseases were deeply interconnected, driven by the environmental and labor demands of rice production. McCandless vividly portrays how fevers, malaria, and other illnesses devastated enslaved Africans, white planters, merchants, soldiers, and Native Americans alike, shaping the social, economic, and epidemiological history of the area. Ex Public Library Copy.