Davis (religious studies, U. of Notre Dame, Indiana) investigates how 10 verses in the Bible (Gen 9:18-27) that have nothing at all to do with Africans ended up functioning as one justification for African slavery in the antebellum US. She explores how the various elements were introduced from rabbinical times through the Middle Ages and modern period that were arranged and interpreted in the US to buttress the notion of African inferiority. The study began as her Ph.D. dissertation at Notre Dame. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)