A Slave's Place, A Master's World, based on original field research, evaluates the transition from slave to free labour in rural Brazil, highlighting the ways in which slaves, free farmers, freedmen and planters shaped the labour markets of an agrarian economy. Documentation from two areas in the Rio de Janeiro hinterland provides the foundation for comparisons between slavery in Vassouras, a highland town where coffee was produced for the export market, and Rio Bonito, a lowland town where coffee and foodstuffs were marketed regionally.

The book examines the settlement processes in both towns, the marginalization of indigenous tribes, the onset of slave labour, and the de facto and de jure claims to land, as planters, small producers and slaves forged the bases of rural society. A feature of the book is the detailed study of the link with the African past during the transition process, when African languages, customs and religion, and social and work-related networks were increasingly juxtaposed with 'master class' practices on the fazendas.