How can words on paper be more devastating than war? Why is there persistent inequality-racial, financial, structural? Why are things in our society the way they are?

Mightier Than the Sword: How Three Obscure Treaties Sanctioned the Enslavement of Millions and the Exploitation of Continents for More Than 400 Years offers a perspective on the roots of the inequality of today. Documents written hundreds of years ago embody the biases and power strategies of their time, but they still have a long reach through history. Atkin examines three treaties-the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Treaties of Nanking, and the Conference of Berlin- that granted permission, or the sanctioned rationale, to decree that annihilation and confiscation of property was legal and just on five continents. Atkin argues these written words continued to achieve their objectives and exercise power by influencing, among other things, the codification of Eurocentric International Law. Enhancing trade was (and remains) the claimed intent but inequality serves this objective. Land dispossession, slavery, and the subjugation of Indigenous peoples are repeated themes in history and are unfortunately still with us today.

This book will change how you understand today's events and the continuing influence of historic documents. This fresh perspective offers hope for real change in policy and the societies they shape.