Junius P. Rodriquez's Slavery in the Modern World: A History of Political, Social, and Economic Oppression stands out as the most comprehensive reference title addressing the history of slavery in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Other comparable titles—Kevin Bales’ second edition of New Slavery: A Reference Handbook (ABC-Clio, 2004), Helen Fein's Human Rights and Wrongs: Slavery, Terror, Genocide (Paradigm, 2007), and Christien van den Anker's The Political Economy of New Slavery (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)—are approximately a third of the length of Rodriquez's 859 page reference set. In contrast to Kevin Bales’ To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today's Slaves (Cornell University, 2008) and his second edition of New Slavery: A Reference Handbook (ABC-Clio, 2004), Rodriquez does not focus on first-hand slave accounts. Instead, while not neglecting those involved in modern slavery, the contributors to Slavery in the Modern World write in a less moralistic and more objective fashion and on a broader scale. According to the back cover, Slavery in the Modern World attempts to examine every angle of modern day slavery, covering the oppressed and oppressors, legislative policy, and other measures taken by agencies in the hopes of eradicating this egregious offense. The resulting reference title contains an impressive documents section containing primarily international resolutions and protocols.

Rodriquez covers multiple forms of slavery, ranging from forced labor in political work camps, to sweat shop labor, to prostitution, to religious forms of slavery, such as trokosi, a practice in Ghana and Togo whereby females are slaves of a particular shrine and male priest (529–31). Suzanne Miers in Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem (AltaMira, 2003) takes a similar approach, yet admits to highlighting British policy (xiii). Slavery in the Modern World is truly global in scope, covering every continent with the exception of Antarctica.Despite its breadth and depth, there are some weaknesses to this reference source. While there are five essays that precede the alphabetical entries, a flaw is that there is no preface or introduction, making it trickier to realize the scope of this work and provide context for modern day slavery. Cross-references and a “Further Readings” section conclude each entry; yet Slavery in the Modern World lacks a list of contributors. Adding a timeline or chronology similar to the one found in Kevin Bales’ second edition of New Slavery: A Reference Handbook (ABC-Clio, 2004) would increase the utility of this reference title.

Even with its shortcomings, Slavery in the Modern World would be a welcome addition to any academic, school, or public library. Human trafficking and other forms of forced labor receive lots of press attention, and this work offers more than a skin deep treatment of these topics.