"""The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave"" is widely considered to be one of the top 100 most controversial books of all time. Required reading for many courses, the Willie Lynch book is considered to be true by some and legend by others. Regardless of one's view on fictional or non-fictional nature of this book, the facts are that the methods described in the book on how to produce enduring slaves were certainly used. African Americans were in-fact divided, and systematically brutalized, based on everything from gender to skin color. The psychological effects of the brutality of chattel slavery are still being felt today. Those who rate ""The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave"" poorly based on historical accuracy would be better served to rate it based on the theoretical model it provides. While dispelling the illusion that ""The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave"" is based on historical fact, those ""in the know"" should not lose sight of the fact that the methods of producing slaves described in this book are true regardless of who did or did not present them. The infamous ""Willie Lynch"" letter provides a great deal of insight into the brutal and inhumane psychology behind the African slave trade. The materialistic viewpoint of Southern plantation owners was slavery was a ""business"" led to slave victims being treated as merely subhuman pawns in an economic game of debauchery, crossbreeding, interracial rape and mental conditioning."