That is one of the talking points used lately by the author of an arresting new book on global slavery, "A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery," by E. Benjamin Skinner.

 

In fact, of course, at the height of the legal slave trade in the 19th century, many more African slaves were "trafficked" to the United States than are arriving now, but globally there may be more people in slavery than ever. Still, it comes as a shock to read Skinner's accounts of the people - the U.S. State Department estimates 600,000 to 800,000 brought across international borders each year - forced to work around the world under threat of violence for no pay.

 

In the United States, the best estimates indicate that 40,000 to 50,000 people are held in slavery at any given time, with about 17,000 people brought into the country and forced to work for nothing every year. The largest single category of them are forced to work as prostitutes, but a majority are domestic servants or some other form of forced labor.

 

What is remarkable about Skinner's account is its geographical depth and immediacy. He negotiates with one Benavil, a slave trader in Haiti, and arranges to buy a 9-year-old girl, who will do unpaid housework for him and also serve as what Benavil delicately calls a "partner." Skinner does not proceed with the transaction.

 

Clinton may be hopeful, but Obama rolls onRepublican blogger has Al Franken's Senate campaign reelingFormer Al Jazeera cameraman released from GuantánamoIn Bucharest, a pimp offers to sell him a young girl in exchange for a used car. He meets a 46-year-old man in India, and sees the gravel pit where his master has forced him to work 14-plus hours a day virtually all his life.