The American Slave Coast tells the horrific story of how the slavery business in the United States made the reproductive labor of “breeding women” essential to the expansion of the nation. The book shows how slaves’ children, and their children’s children, were human savings accounts that were the basis of money and credit. This was so deeply embedded in the economy of the slave states that it could only be decommissioned by Emancipation, achieved through the bloodiest war in the history of the United States. The American Slave Coast is an alternative history of the United States that presents the slavery business, as well as familiar historical figures and events, in a revealing new light. “A massive story of impressive research…” — Kirkus Reviews “The Sublettes offer an economic history and theory of slavery that is blunt in its assessment, unassailable in its argument and accessible to a general reader.” —The Guardian "Ned and Constance Sublette have provided the world with one of the best history books ever written about the United States. Nominally about the slave breeding industry in the US South, The American Slave Coast is actually a sweeping, in-depth survey of the nation known as the United States." —Counterpunch Ned Sublette is the author of Cuba and Its Music , The World that Made New Orleans , and The Year Before the Flood . Constance Sublette   published, as Constance Ash, the novels The Horsegirl , The Stalking Horse , and The Stallion Queen , and edited an anthology of science fiction. They live in New York City.