Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It Paperback – October 12, 2010

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.

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.

I became interested in the issue of human trafficking after I read a NY Times article titled, The Girls Next Door, by Peter Landesman, in 2004. It "broke my heart" and ever since then I have been looking for a way to help stop this terrible plague of injustice. In an effort to become informed, I read the Amazon reviews of all the books on this subject and ordered several. This one, Not For Sale, is fantastic!It gives facts, which are not presented in an expoloitative, titillating way, but will still probably "break your heart" too. Besides the facts, there are also actual examples of many of the forms of human trafficking, from the sexual trade to child soldiers, and slave labor. Yes, people are still buying and selling slaves! And, yes, here in the United States, too!But the best part is that this book gives you examples of people who are finding ways to stop this plague. And, it also gives you resources, such as the names of organizations where you can send donations, and websites that you can contact.Right now this plague flourishes because it is mostly invisible, even though it is happening all around us. But, once we are informed, we will no longer be blind, and there will be no dark corners where this travesty can exist.I read this book in one day (yesterday), then today, I ordered 16 more copies, which I am going to distribute in my personal effort to help the world become informed. Obviously, I highly recommend this book!