In this groundbreaking book, Dusinberre conducts an intense investigation of slavery in the rice swamps of South Carolina and Georgia. Concentrated there were some of the richest—and most expansive—plantations of the South. It was an unhealthy region for both blacks and whites; slavery, in the swamps, was administered with particular severity. Focusing on three of the largest plantations, Dusinberre presents portraits of individuals, both black and white, who personify and exemplify the harsh realities of the slave system. Them Dark Days offers a vivid reconstruction of slavery in action; while it conveys the atmosphere and daily routine of the plantations, it also sets the analysis of slave culture within a wider context of health, discipline, privilege, and psychology.