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Author Mercer's study guide offers twenty questions, followed by twenty chapters elucidating the answers. Questions begin with the Declaration of Independence from when it was debated among the colonists. Southern states objected to and managed to expunge clauses stating grievances against the English for bringing slavery to the Thirteen Colonies. Mercer establishes that slavery has existed on earth for more than 8,000 years. However, many people believe it began in America. He reminds readers that Vermont—at the time a republic and where a war was fought and won by those who opposed slavery—abolished the practice in 1777. Remarkably, only five percent of all African slaves were brought to the U.S., begging the question of why other countries are not being cited for reparations. Most Republicans in the American Congress supported voting rights for former slaves, while Democrats largely opposed them. Major Muslim countries didn't officially abolish slavery until the twentieth century. Additionally, the Muslim slave trade, rarely mentioned in schools, targeted both women and whites and affected fifty times more victims than the trade in the U.S.
Mercer, a former member of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas State Board of Education, has organized his material with serious intent, quoting succinctly and appropriately from supportive materials including statistical data gathered by other scholars. Essentially, he has constructed the equivalent of a course in higher learning focused on the issue of slavery. With his multiple-choice question format, his information leaves scope for thoughtful readers to consider opposing theories, while his well-chosen materials guide them toward correct answers. His stance as conservative and Christian may unsettle some readers, but his stated hatred of slavery, which he terms EDS—evil, demonic, satanic—allows those who approach his work with an open mind to discover new, perhaps unexpected, viewpoints.