"Conrad has done a fine job in assembling interesting and useful material that should appeal to scholars of slavery as well as students at the undergraduate and graduate levels." —Stanley L. Engerman, Civil War History

"An excellent starting point for those looking to acquaint themselves with one of the fundamental processes of American slavery." —Matt Clavin, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography

"This is a wonderfully complete work that stands in contrast to most documentary collections of slave trade sources, which tend to cover only the Atlantic trade. In recent years, the internal slave trade has attracted a good deal of scholarly attention. The strength of this unique work is that it is so solid in its discussion of the middle passage, but equally comprehensive as the trade moved onto land and even headed west into the heartland."—Douglas R. Egerton, Le Moyne College

In the Hands of Strangers is a collection of sixty-seven documents by writers and witnesses from the past, both black and white, that offer perspectives on the trade and movement of slaves. Many elucidate the long-standing discord between North and South over the issue of slavery.

Documents are divided into three parts that cover the African slave trade, the internal U.S. slave trade, and the series of conflicts and crises that led to the Civil War. They cover a variety of topics including the forced transport of slaves throughout East Coast and Gulf Coast states, buying and selling of slaves, increasingly contentious debates over the legitimacy of slavery, and effects of the breakup of families. The volume concludes with a brilliant essay by Frederick Douglass that asks the question: "What shall be done with the Negro?"