James Oakes Books in Order
James Oakes has written 9 books, published between 1982 and 2021. The first book is Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders (1982) and the newest is The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution (2021). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 9
- Published
- 1982–2021
- Pages on record
- 3,116 in 7 of 9 books
- Reading time
- 52–78 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,116 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 7 of 9 titles with a page count on record.
James Oakes is an American historian of slavery in the United States, and took the 2008 Lincoln Prize for The Radical and the Republican, a study of Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and the politics of antislavery. The historical work in the catalogue begins with Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders (1982) and continues through Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South (1990), Freedom National (2012), The Scorpion's Sting (2014) and The Crooked Path to Abolition (2021). Subject headings name slaveholders, antislavery movements, emancipation, capitalism and the social conditions of the Southern states. The books reach a median of 307 pages.
How many James Oakes books are there?
James Oakes has 9 books, released between 1982 and 2021.
James Oakes Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 9 James Oakes books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders1982 · 307 pages · confirmed 1/419823071/4
- 2Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South1990 · 246 pages · confirmed 1/419902461/4
- 3The Oakes Diaries: Business, Politics, and the Family in Bury St Edmunds, 1778-18271991 · confirmed 1/41991–1/4
- 4The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics2007 · 320 pages · confirmed 1/420073201/4
- 5Of the People2009 · 1184 pages · confirmed 1/4200911841/4
- 6Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-18652012 · 595 pages · confirmed 1/420125951/4
- 7The Scorpion's Sting: Antislavery and the Coming of the Civil War2014 · 208 pages · confirmed 1/420142081/4
- 8When You Walk Through A Storm: A heartbreaking true life story, chronicling how two people struggle for survival against all the odds.2021 · confirmed 1/42021–1/4
- 9The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution2021 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/420212561/4
James Oakes books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Standalone books
9 books9 James Oakes titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read James Oakes books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 9 James Oakes books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with James Oakes
Start with Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders (1982), the earliest published title.
What is the newest James Oakes book?
The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution (2021) is the newest James Oakes book released so far.
Is there a new James Oakes book coming?
No next James Oakes book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
James Oakes at a glance
- Paused
- No new James Oakes title has appeared for 5 years. The last was published in 2021.
- Release pace
- James Oakes books have appeared about one every 5 years on average.
- Length
- 3,116 pages across the 7 of 9 books with a recorded length, a median of 307 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most James Oakes books, 2 of 9, were published in the 2020s.
What the James Oakes books are about
8 of the 9 James Oakes books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: history is tagged on 6 of 8. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- History 6 of 8 books
- Antislavery movements 4 of 8 books
- Slavery 4 of 8 books
- Slavery, united states, history 4 of 8 books
- Antislavery movements, united states 2 of 8 books