The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially outlawed slavery and all its forms on December 6, 1865. The United States will soon celebrate 150 years of the creation of slavery. the abolition of its "peculiar institution", and yet historians still struggle to establish a collective version of the events that led to its development and continued importance throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As a result, the study of slavery has produced one of the richest and most varied historiographies in all of American history. Walter Rucker's unique contribution to the existing literature means, in my opinion, that it should be widely read by scholars and students. and Identity Formation in Early America is a fascinating consideration of African culture and its effects on the history of slave resistance in North America. Walter Rucker seeks to establish that the effect was widespread; furthermore, he claims that it was essential in creating a sense of community among enslaved peoples. One of his main goals seems to be to impress upon his reader the important advances that could continue to be made if greater importance were given to the African roots of slaves. In doing so, he asserts, one could “better grasp the convoluted complexities of slave life.” Much like the work of Michael Gomez, to which Rucker places great emphasis, The River Flows On rejects an "Americanist" approach to the study of slave culture in favor of one that embraces a unique African-American identity. Among historians who take an "Afro-Americanist" stance on the subject, R...... middle of article... nevertheless, this is still progress that historians should take note of for the future. Works CitedAllison, RJ, review of MA Gomez, Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identity in the Colonial and Antebellum South, 1526-1830. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. In Journal of Intergraduate History, 30:3 (1999), pp. 475-481. Creel, MW, review of S. Stuckey, Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black. America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. In Journal of American History, 75:4 (1989), pp. 1281-1283. Rucker, W.C., The River Flows On: Black Resistance, Culture, and Identity Formation in Early America. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006. Stampp, K.M., The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South, 2nd ed. New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1961.