Slavery Historian Ira Berlin Dies at 77

Berlin was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, receiving a Ph.D. in history in 1970. His books included “Generations of Captivity,” ’’Slaves Without Masters” and “Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America,” for which he won the Bancroft Prize. He also wrote the introduction for a tie-in book to the acclaimed movie “Twelve Years a Slave,” and was an adviser for HBO’s documentary about former slaves, “Unchained Memories.”