Unbroken Chains

March 27, 2023
This searing exposé reveals the dark underbelly of the U.S. economy. Among other damning evidence of human trafficking and labor exploitation, sociologist Ditmore (Sex Work Matters) notes that from 1988 through 1995, 72 Thai garment workers were held captive and in debt bondage in a factory in El Monte, Calif., and that 3,750 workers were identified as possible trafficking victims during the Hurricane Katrina cleanup in 2005. The latter’s exploitation was abetted, according to Ditmore, by the government’s relaxing of immigration restrictions and wage and safety standards to draw foreign workers. Usually conflated with prostitution, the author notes, human trafficking is typically prosecuted in the sex trades and overlooked in other businesses where it occurs, including factories, slaughterhouses, and industrial farms. Victims are most in need of transitional housing and job training and placement, Ditmore argues, rather than criminal prosecution or deportment, the threats of which help sustain the trafficking industry. Ditmore’s solutions include reaching out to workers in suspected trafficking situations, buying from companies that support the Fair Foods Standards Council, boycotting products made with prison labor, and donating to human rights organizations that offer direct services to workers. Knowledgable, empathetic, and impassioned, Ditmore is an expert tour guide through this harrowing landscape. Readers will be moved to take action.

April 1, 2023

Human rights consultant Ditmore (Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work) has written another comprehensive book filled with case study evidence and scholarly depth about human trafficking in the United States. The book includes sections on trafficking in sales, agriculture, and domestic work, on the industry itself, and on its infrastructure. There are lucid--and often harrowing--accounts of the ways in which people have been coerced, abused, and sometimes killed as a result of human trafficking. Historical details from the 17th century to the present (Jeffrey Epstein is mentioned) consider legislative and human rights efforts to address these crimes. Perhaps more importantly, the book notes the numerous ways that businesses and politicians (e.g., J. Edgar Hoover) have taken corrupt measures to achieve their own agendas. Many similar books end when they bring the narrative up-to-date, but this book's final chapter is "What Kind of Help Is Truly Helpful?" The author asserts that community-based initiatives are more likely to succeed in helping human trafficking victims than anything involving law enforcement or immigration agents. VERDICT There's contact information for the Freedom Network USA and lists of specific actions for readers to take if or when they suspect instances of human trafficking. Libraries need this.--Ellen Gilbert

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2023
When most Americans hear the phrase human trafficking, they're likely to think first and only of girls and women trafficked into the sex trade. But the problem of trafficking is much more extensive. Shrewdly, Ditmore (Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work, 2006) kicks off her book with the case study of magazine subscription sales crews, a seemingly aboveboard job that, in fact, is deeply exploitative and meets the definition of trafficking. It's an effective reminder of the many faces human trafficking wears and the many lives it touches. Ditmore then shares the stories of people trafficked into agriculture, domestic labor, manufacturing, and sex work, and then, in alternating chapters, explores the histories of exploitation in each of those industries. Though these historical interludes emphasize the role of racism and xenophobia in American labor, they're of limited usefulness in contextualizing today's trafficking crisis. Ditmore effectively shows how the stigma of sex work and an unwillingness to listen to survivors makes it harder for trafficked workers--including those trafficked into sex work--to get help. A stirring and compassionate book.

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