Lacy K. Ford is Professor of History, University of South Carolina.

"Ford's study is a quick and enjoyable read. Students especially will welcome the way he sets up his argument in each section and then summarizes neatly at the end of each chapter...This should remain the definitive work for years to come on why white Southerners ultimately declined to deliver themselves from the evils of slavery."--Georgia Historical Quarterly

"Ford painstakingly unravels the divergent perspectives on slavery, making 'Deliver Us From Evil' required reading for anyone interested in the development of Southern society...In dismissing the stale notions that slaveholder paternalism developed from the ancient habit of noblesse oblige or from the peculiar conditions of Southern slavery, Ford makes his most important contribution to our understanding of the development of Southern society."--Ira Berlin, New York Times Book Review

"[T]hrough depth, detail and focus, Ford's comprehensive study forges a fresh path...[T]he historical detail is engrossing...Ford's monumental book delineates a 'twisted and tortured' intellectual history; signs of his mastery of previous scholarship and his immersion in fresh primary sources abound...Ford's lucid prose and summary introductions illuminate the way. Lay readers will appreciate his guidance, and academic readers will find his revelations groundbreaking."--Publishers Weekly" (starred review)

"Ford's book...does provide an intricate, textured argument about the intellectual, social, and political interests shaping 'the slavery question'...Essential for all students of this subject."--Library Journal

"Rarely has anyone heard this case made with the force and detail that Lacy K. Ford, chairman of the University of South Carolina's history department, has pulled together in his important new work...Those seeking the slaves' perspective won't find much here, as the author readily notes up front, but there's arguably no single better book for anyone wishing to explore the mind-set that kept them in chains."--Charleston Post & Courier

"[A] long-awaited, heavily documented, and precisely argued study."--H-Law

"Ford's vitally important book reminds us of the complicated calculus employed by white southerners to answer various 'slavery questions' over southern time and space."--North Carolina Historical Review