More Readable Than the Last One, But . . .

This book, Virginia 1619, SLAVERY & FREEDOM in the Making of English America (their emphasis, not mine) sounds like it would tell one a lot about how that whole slavery thing got going. It's actually a series of essays on different topics regarding this time and place. To me, (and I sure don't claim to be a scholar, by any means, but still, I can read) it read more like a defense of how hard everyone tried to make a real go of things before they resulted to slavery. Bad luck, unscrupulous leadership, battles with native peoples all made the endeavor full of pitfalls and a money pit, that is, until tobacco made its appearance. And we all know what happened then. Perhaps I missed something? But there was really only one chapter that seemed to address this topic slapped across the front of the cover, and that one was more like what I'd expected. Well researched, but left me a little flat.