Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It

Not For Sale by David Batstone"Not For Sale" is one of those books that will leave in an indelible mark in your being. David Batstone has written an eye-opening account on the existing crisis of global human slavery. This fascinating book will take you through various personal accounts of the victims, survivors and abolitionist activists. It is a mind-changing, inspirational book that is a call for action. This 320-page book is composed of the following six chapters: 1. Shining Light into the Sexual Darkness: Cambodia and Thailand, 2. Breaking the Chains of Bonded Laborers: South Asia, 3. Rescuing the Child Soldiers: Uganda, 4. Undermining the Sex Syndicate: Europe, 5. Sheltering the Lost Children: Peru, and 6. Building a New Underground Railroad: USA.Positives:1. Wow! Where can I begin? It's a well-written, well-researched, fascinating look at the evil of global human trafficking.2. This book grabs you, overwhelms you and it ultimately changes you.3. An eye-opening book about the current form of human trafficking.4. The author treats this subject with utmost respect and compels the reader through common moral decency.5. Enough facts to ground the seriousness of the issue of human slavery but it is the author's ability to convey the stories in a lucid manner that drives this gem of a book.6. This is in fact a global issue!7. It's an inspirational book that compels you to do something. Mr. Batstone does a wonderful job of inspiring a modern-day abolitionist.8. Very good quotes abound. "A moral obligation cannot arise from an immoral act".9. How poverty rips apart a community.10. The wonderful inspirational stories of the many activists who care.11. The tools of the slave traders and how they use them for their evil purposes. Coercion and deception among them.12. The heart-ripping stories of children being sold into the sex trade.13. The story of a good lawyer...who knew?14. How the rich and powerful can work around a corrupt system.15. The evolution of the traffickers.16. The interesting take of how Germany and the Netherlands handle prostitution.17. The impact of corruption.18. Leveraging international diplomacy and its impact.19. The process of enslavement explained.20. How to deal with the problem? Recommendations from the activists.21. The facts from the published report: "Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States".22. A sound strategy on what can be done to fight the evil of human trafficking.23. A great conclusion chapter on how to end the slave trade in our time.24. A great list of anti human-trafficking resources.25. Good notes reference.Negatives:1. It uses flashbacks to tell the different stories. At first a little confusing but once you get into the rhythm of the stories, it works well.2. Illustrations and charts would have added value.3. Having to wait for Mr. Batstone's next book.In summary, "Not For Sale" is a captivating book that must be read. It's heartbreaking, it's emotional, it's gripping but ultimately it's inspirational and educational. Human trafficking is an evil that must be eradicated and the author does a wonderful job of providing the inspiration and guidance to do so. Bravo!Further recommendation: "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

In Not for Sale, David Batstone provides an informative look at the global problem of slavery. Human trafficking comes in many guises. Forced prostitution is the most common form of trafficking. However, modern slavery also encompasses the garment industry, restaurant workers, child soldiers, factory laborers, and domestic servants. Trafficking is a problem in poor and wealthy countries.Traffickers prey on the economic desperation of families. The exploited poor might find themselves in a modern-day version of the company store, in which the exploiter deducts sparse food and living expenses from meager wages. Or, the slave-holder continually adds interest on a small loan that can only remain unpaid. Attempts to escape the exploitation might result in violence against an individual or his or her family members.Traffickers also use shame against their victims. In some cultures, a woman losing her virginity under any circumstances is considered damaged goods, as it were. A woman will then feel inhibited returning to her family. In other cases, a trafficker might force a child soldier to murder someone in his village. The child then fears returning home.In some countries, the police or government officials might be complicit in human trafficking. Corruption such as this adds to the isolation of trafficking victims who may be reluctant to approach authorities about their plight, leading to a problem of slavery that is everywhere illegal but might be hiding in plain sight. "Look beneath the surface," one trafficking victim noted. "People who are trafficked usually are hidden, so pay attention to signs that seem out the ordinary."All in all, this is a troubling but worthwhile read.

It seemed to me that I had encountered both in the course of my first trip to Moldova, one of the countries discussed in depth as a supplier of trafficked women in this excellent book by David Batstone.Angels of Darkness - the exploiters, operating with an inhumanity and spine chilling demonstration of evil in their relentless pursuit of profit, stealing the lives of the innocent and the weak.Angels of Light - the abolitionists and rescuers, those who would not look away, but rather risk their very lives to confront this great unrecognized evil of the modern age, and do so with courage, compassion, endurance and vision that would seem to be far beyond any human capacity that I could understand.Not for Sale describes this clash of good and evil swirling about the global slave trade in its many pernicious expressions in the 21st century. The author has chosen a narrative form in which he weaves together stories of lives - those of the innocent victims, the Angels of Darkness who enslave and exploit them, and the Angels of Light who will leave no stone unturned to set the captives free.Each chapter tells the story of a different manifestation of slavery from around the world. These include providing children for the smorgasbord of sex tourism in Southeast Asia, slave workers to make bricks in India, gruesome accounts of children abducted to serve as soldiers (and the sex slaves of commanders) in Uganda, the role of organized crime in developing trafficking as vibrant economic growth engine in the commercially devastated former Soviet Republics, and on and on.The reader comes away with an understanding of the many forms of modern day slavery, the conditions that give rise to it, and what can be done to combat it.And this is perhaps the best aspect of the book - it contains a call to action, and describes many ways in which even those of us who are not heroes can join the fight. Ultimately, it speaks of hope in a context that at first glance would seem to be utterly hopeless. As the author writes, "I believe in the power of individuals to change the world".Angels of Light.

Liked the book. Informative. Left me wanting to find out more.Great organisation, David Batstone is a great man. We should all read more regarding this to make people more aware of the implications of what they do, and how it affects lives.

Ein sehr interessantes Buch ueber ein bedrueckendes Thema. Die Beispiele, wie Menschen versklavt werden, regen zum Nachdenken an. Das ganze geht ueber Sklavenarbeit in Indien, sexuelle Ausbeutung von Kindern und Frauen, bis hin zu Kindersoldaten. Ganz klare Kaufempfehlung.

I can only give it 4 stars, because I can't say 'I love it'. The subject matter was very difficult to read. It truly is a heart-breaker to know that there are so many people being held as slaves, all over the world. I think this book is just the tip of the iceberg. I ask myself, what can I do about this? Prayer changes things and so that's where I've started.

I bought 40 of this book to pass along for others to read... The world needs to see what is going onin this world! SAD, and we must STOP IT now!! If you are not part of the solution, you are partof the problem !!

You must read this book to understand the true global atrocity that is the slave trade, a must read for everyone.