Some of the most interesting stories in this study come from Bouton's sensitive and careful examination of Virginia criminal slave trial transcripts. . . Setting Slavery's Limits: Physical Confrontations in Antebellum Virginia, 1801 - 1860 is an extremely well-written and well-researched book. The discussions are clear, the work is logically presented, and the case studies are intriguing.

Journal of Southern History

Bouton has streamlined the discussion about slavery and power and placed it into a much-needed context of violence and honor, offering a better way to understand the complexities of slavery and why slaves either resisted physical punishment or endured it. Easily digestible by all levels of readership, Setting Slavery’s Limits is a great addition to the scholarship on African slavery in the United States.

Matthew A. Byron, Young Harris College

In Setting Slavery's Limits: Physical Confrontations in Antebellum Virginia, 1801–1860, Christopher H. Bouton brings to light the untold story of slave resistance and masterfully illustrates how slaves used physical confrontation to resist the condition of slavery. These intermediary forms of resistance demonstrate how both enslaved men and women reasserted some measure of control over their daily lives. Bouton uses compelling examples to explore how these violent acts threatened the precarious slave society in Virginia. This book makes an important and necessary contribution to the study of slavery, resistance, and the antebellum period.

Kimberly Nath, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater