Book Review

Not for Sale---David Batstone



David Batstone's book Not for Sale is a non-fiction book about human trafficking. The book includes chapters about different types of human trafficking and the different parts of the world were these traffickings take place. The book also gives first had accounts from victims who were trafficked. Not for Sale has received great reviews. All of the reviews say that this is a must read book because "Batstone paints a picture of modern-day slavery..." (Dean R. Hirsch, president, World Vision International.)

The purpose of this book was to show the readers how bad human trafficking is and to show what people are doing to help stop it. Batstone did achieve this purpose because he showed the readers, with the stories by the victims, how bad human trafficking is. He was able to give the readers a visual of what victims go through. What also helped he achieve the purpose was the stories of the people who did or are doing something to help victims of human trafficking. Something else that helped him reach is purpose was the way Batstone arranged the book.

Within each chapter he put a story of a victim, a story of someone who is trying to help and facts about human trafficking in a certain area of the world. Each chapters of the book focuses on a different country and the type of human trafficking that is most common in that country. Another thing about how the book was arranged is that within the chapters Batstone broke up the stories of the victims with the stories of the helpers and the facts. So you read a little about the helper then a little part of the victim's story then back to the story of the reader and so on. Though it can get a little confusing it is an interesting way to put two stories together. In this book there are two different points a views. There is 1st person which is presented in the stories of the victims and when Batstone tells the stories of the helpers it is 3rd person.

What I liked about this book was the structure it. At first it was kind of confusing when the chapter jumped from the victim's story and the helper's story but then I started to like it. What I really liked about the book was the first hand account stories. I thought that they add a good element to the book. They really helped to get the point across about how bad human trafficking is. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the who, what, when, where and how of human trafficking. Not for Sale really helps put into perspective how wrong human trafficking is and it really helps you realized that this is a problem and it needs to be stopped.