On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially prohibited slavery and all its forms. The United States will soon celebrate 150 years since the abolition of its “peculiar institution,” yet historians are still struggling to establish a collective version of the events that led to its development and continued significance 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 this existing literature, in my opinion, means that he should be widely read by scholars and students. The River Flows On: Black Resistance, Culture. and Identity Formation in Early America is a fascinating consideration of African culture and its effect on the history of slave resistance in North America. Walter Rucker tries to show that the effect was extensive; furthermore, he argues that it was essential in creating a common consciousness among enslaved peoples. One of its main goals appears to be to make the reader understand the important progress that could continue to be made if greater importance were placed on the African roots of slaves. In this way, he argues, one could “better grasp the complex complexities of slave life.” Not unlike the work of Michael Gomez, to which Rucker ascribes great significance, 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. Of those historians who take an “African-Americanist” position on the topic, R…… middle of paper…… however is still progress and one that historians should take note of for the future. Works Cited Allison, R.J., review of M.A. 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 Interdisciplinary History, 30:3 (1999), pp. 475-481. Creel, M.W., 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 Runs Above: 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 Antebellum South, 2nd ed. New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1961.