Roll Jordan Roll (1974) is a study of the relationship between master and slave in the United States in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Genovese looks beyond the idea of paternalism—where owners limited slaves' freedoms for their own good—suggesting the relationship was more complex. Slaves were not passive; they used sophisticated techniques to survive, accepting some slave master demands while negotiating certain rights and concessions—all the while maintaining their sense of humanity through song and prayer. Genovese's nuanced consideration of this relationships caused controversy particularly his refusal to make simplified moral claims that slaveholders were "bad" and slaves "good."