Many people do not realize that the Irish were slaves for many years before African slavery became common. The British regularly sent Irish slaves to the West Indies, the Carribean, and the American Colonies. Later, these Irish were "indentured servants," another form of slavery. I minored in history in college, and never knew this until about 5 years ago. It seems wrong to me that this history is so unknown. It is my hope that my book will help change the view of slavery as purely a racial i ssue, and show that is is instead a human issue.