The Peculiar Institution Author:Kenneth M. Stampp Kenneth Stampp casts a cold eye on slavery, what it was like to be a slave, how slaves lived, and all about the complex relationship among slave owners, slaves, and each other. From the standpoint of 1956. And he tells, unflinching, about what "the peculiar institution" did to white people, black people, and our whole nation. This is a very outs... more »tanding book. Every so often I offer up one of my prizes out of a thousand or two books of African American Literature. And if the winner gives me good reason, I just might throw in an unpostable copy (many too many notes and underlinings) of another similar book about 1954-57 titled With All Deliberate Speed.« less