Book Description
Henry Louis Gates Jr. redefines Uncle Tom's Cabin with this seminal interpretation of the great American novel.
Declared worthless and dehumanizing by James Baldwin in 1949, Uncle Tom's Cabin has lacked literary credibility for fifty years. Now, in a ringing refutation of Baldwin, Henry Louis Gates Jr. demonstrates the literary transcendence of Harriet Beecher Stowe's masterpiece. Uncle Tom's Cabin, first published in 1852, galvanized the American public as no other work of fiction has ever done. The editors animate pre-Civil War life with rich insights into the lives of slaves, abolitionists, and the American reading public. Examining the lingering effects of the novel, they provide new insights into emerging race-relation, women's, gay, and gender issues. With reproductions of rare prints, posters, and photographs, this book is also one of the most thorough anthologies of Uncle Tom images up to the present day. 2-color throughout; 32 pages of color illustrations, 150 black-and-white illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Too many notes.......2007-09-17
This is a moving, important, and captivating novel that easily stands on its own. The annotations, while helpful when expounding upon literal and historical references, are otherwise largely uninformative. As a previous reviewer noted, the tone is often quite personal and immaterial ( "my eyes glazed over" etc.) One passage being referred to as being eye-glazingly boring and superfluous was in fact quite brilliant and necessary for insight into one of the more complex and fully realized characters in the novel ( Augustine St. Clare). I don't feel the editors' job is to instruct the reader when to be disinterested. The editors also have a tendency to give away key plot points throughout, which did not endear them to this reader. They also fixate on odd themes that seem overindulgent, such as what they consider to be Shelby's oral fixations, which seem to me to be nothing more than the daily pastimes of a southern gentleman of leisure, i.e. eating and smoking. They can go out of their way to belabor points such as these.
The tone of some of the comments are also startlingly informal, as in "George is a little too talky here." Talky???????? That wouldn't even pass in an eighth grade English paper. Not to mention that George, at this point in the novel, is under great duress and making an impassioned stand for his belief and his survival. Talky. Harumph.
So skip the notes, but by all means devour the story. It is worth it.
excellent background but read the novel first.......2006-11-24
John Updike reviews this new edition in the Nov 6 New Yorker, which is available online and well worth looking up. With 100 pages to go, Updike tired of the "irritable sniping from the sidelines" and switched to the standard Library of America edition.
A few months ago I reviewed the Penguin edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin here in Amazon. I suggested that if you decide to read the novel, skip the Introduction until you are done reading, because it gives away several plot points that you are better off encountering for yourself directly.
The same applies to this new annotated edition I think. The novel is not so difficult that you can't simply read it through on your own. I suggest doing that first, in a standard edition, then going through this edition. Otherwise you are having only a mediated experience of the work. In other words, let the work stand or fall on its own merits first, before exposing yourself to the opinions of others about it.
Having read the standard edition earlier I then read this annotated edition "inside out". That is, I read the introductory chapters and the annotations themselves straight through and used Stowe's text as the reference. This is a better approach I think than trying to read the text for the first time with the annotations nearby, where they do intrude and interrupt the flow of the story.
When reading the annotations this way though you do notice the inconsistency in voice that Updike mentions. Most are carefully neutral but you get an occasional first-person remark like "I confess my eyes glazed over" (gee that's helpful), then "again, our eyes glaze over" or "I recall Baldwin's...". Or "I am close to turning the page." then "...bore us silly", in the same annotation. As if the two editors read, and experienced eye-glaze, in unison? Since there seems to be two distinct voices at play it would have been useful for each annotation to have been initialed by its author, Gates or Robbins. I started trying to guess which editor wrote which annotation--I suspect Robbins provided the majority of the historical background while Gates did the Baldwins, the "I"s, and the trendier ones ("To the modern reader, Adolph is unmistakably 'metrosexual'"). This disparity in tone is also obvious between Gates' public interview (Boston Globe, Nov 12) in which he too-casually terms the work racist, and the less judgmental and more nuanced approach of the majority of the annotations themselves.
Getting past that though the annotations contain a wealth of useful background. The Biblical references, the distinctions among the slaves, the nuances of hypocrisy, the literary conventions, the sheer mechanics of the business, the conventional wisdom of the time about the races, all are excellent and thorough.
So, if you are going to read Uncle Tom's Cabin, do so first, then get this edition. It's an indispensable addition to the work.
Book Description
This book is for Masters. This book is for established Masters who are curious about what someone could possibly write on the subject they know so well. This book is also for those relatively new to the BDSM Lifestyle who are finding themselves called to Mastery. The book covers a wide range of topics, starting with some planning steps to use before you even start looking for a slave, progressing through the negotiations stages, and ending up with some tips and techniques that you can consider once you’ve been with your slave for a while. In that light, this book is an excellent choice if you are already in an M/s relationship and want some ideas about how to do a reality check.
Customer Reviews:
Dominance and Submission.......2007-05-21
Learn everything you need to know about dominant and submissive relationships in one explicit volume. You'll even learn how to find your own slave.
accelerate your journey into BDSM .......2007-03-09
A decade of M/s knowledge in one book
Both books Master/slave Relations: Handbook of Theory and Practice and
Protocol Handbook for the Leather Slave: Theory and Practice by Robert J. Rubel, PhD
Cover the same subject with a slightly different focus.
It amazes me that knowledge that took me years to learn is now available in 7 easy steps. The book can accelerate your journey into BDSM by a decade.
Less time on Differences, More Time on Realistic Questions.......2006-12-13
I consider this an expansion in many ways of the Leather Protocols book by Rubel. Here he gives more explicit examples of his own protocols and asks the reader to really consider what they might include and should include in their own should they chose the very, very rare path of an owner-slave or master-slave relationship. Personally my own protocols (yes, I do live this life, too) are not nearly as formal but these are very much the same considerations I felt were necessary to address when I began and as I continue in this life. Take the questions seriously don't just copy Rubel's ideas. Also don't plan on just jumping quickly into these relationships -- success requires planning and continuous reflection.
What a surprise.......2006-12-06
Wow! An A to Z discussion of what goes into developing and maintaining a Leather Master/slave relationship. This guy clearly knows what he's talking about. Rubel begins by defining his terms, moves through self examination, touches on ways of finding a slave, describes how to begin such a relationship, moves through collars and contracts and ends up with a slightly irreverent section called: "How's it Going?" All in all, this book provides a comprehensive and fresh look at this form of relationship. You should also check out his companion book, Protocols for the Leather Slave. Judging from the covers, they are probably meant to be companion works.
Discovering the rewards of Mastery.......2006-12-05
In the latest book to discuss the dynamics of Master/slave relationships, we have "Master/slave Relations: A Handbook of Theory and Practice" by Robert J. Rubel, PhD. Like similar books by Christina Abernathy, Guy Baldwin, Jack Rinella or Jay Wiseman (who contributes this book's foreword), it sets out to explore the Master/slave dynamic. Building like a pyramid through various phases of mastery (and this is primarily a book directed to dominants), Dr. Rubel power-points his way through the book's near 200 pages.
Where Dr. Rubel excels here is in the details. He has a background as a financial CEO, and it shows. Protocol is the greatest part of Dr. Rubel's definition to Master/slave relationships, and references to manners and etiquette are liberally used. Also frequently placed throughout "Master/slave Relations" are fragments of commentary attributed to well known Master and slave individuals, allowing for additional gravitas from outside sources. This is no "whip'em into shape" handbook. "Master/slave Relations" aims to mold more than pulverize. It should be emphasized that one of the words in the book's title is "practice."
Referring back to Dr. Rubel's financial background, within the book's first 50 pages, he asks of the reader "How much are you willing to pay to get what you want?" He is not just posing this question financially (although financial responsibility does play a great role), but what are you - and by extension, your slave - willing to expand outside your pre-defined ideas of what you already have? His answers are structured and never glib, in fact, he uses several examples from the relationships in his life to punctuate his thoughts.
Even more important is Dr. Rubels' thoughts on the dynamics of the relationship. Most telling is a blocked off comment that reads:
"A slave's duty is to be of service to Master. That's it. The trick, then, is to be a Master worthy of such service."
Again, this is primarily a book for Dominants in search of greater understanding of D/s dynamics. The concept of reinvention is brought out frequently; structure (and I do mean that in a rigid fashion) and (here's that word again) protocols - mix with spirituality. What comes across throughout all of Dr. Rubel's work is the seriousness of it all. While he always comes off as sincere in his beliefs, there is more than a slight sense that you could well be reading a power-point presentation that you would otherwise be seated in an audience for. The density of "Master/slave Relations: Handbook of Theory and Practice" is so thick with scholarly intimation that you may have to take breaks from each chapter, to review and repeat. This could possibly be the most academic D/s lifestyle book I have ever encountered. If that is what your relationship (or search for understanding of self) requires, then by all means, delve in. Just be forewarned. The information here is invaluable, but it's also for the truly dedicated.
Book Description
Were black masters different from white? An analysis of all aspects and particularly of the commercialism of black slaveowning debunks the myth that black slaveholding was a benevolent institution based on kinship, and explains the transition of black masters from slavery to paid labor.
Customer Reviews:
An eye opener.......2007-05-06
I was a political science major and history minor in college. This book tells more than the all my classwork combined. It is not for the politically correct. It makes me want to go back to college armed with the real truth.
Not exactly PC history.......2005-04-25
Personally, I found this book fascinating. This is a very uncomfortable subject for African-Americans and sympathetic whites, but it is a story that needs to be told. Admittedly, Larry Koger is heavy on graphs and the census, but it is important to show just who was involved in this business. Whenever an historian deals with subject matter as controversial as this, you need as much documentation as you can to prove your point.
Basically, the book shows slavery in its complexity that is often missing from books in films that are either by the political left OR right wing. We learn of William Ellison, a free black who eventually owned 63 slaves in Sumter County in 1860, whose sons actually tried to join the Confederatre Army! (they were rejected, for VERY obvious reasons)!
There is also the tale of the traitor Peter Desverneys, infamous to us black history fans as the "man" who "spilled the beans" on the Denmark Vesey slave rebellion. We learn that Peter was not only freed for life after this, but bought and sold slaves of his own afterwards!
I could go on and on, but read the book and see for yourself. As A Black South Carolinian, I grew up hearing a number of African-Americans claim that some of their ancestors were actually slave owners (why they would brag about this could form another book about indentification with one's oppressors, but that's another story). In either case, it's a story you are not likely to hear about on a widespread basis, but it is important in understanding the length of the tragedy and delusion caused by the transatlantic slave trade.
S. Cole.......2003-04-12
Found it very interesting. It makes me want to watch the silent movie "Birth of a Nation" again,now that I know how the black state representatives came to be. Sometimes the little statistics can be a little repetitious and boring(that is why 4 stars not 5).Book appears to be backed up with facts though.
Very mechanically written, but worth a look!.......2001-03-25
This subject is an important one to explore, but there must be a more interesting way to do it. The book is primarily a quantitative study that must have been the author's master's thesis. Names are transcribed from census records, and the difficulties in quantifying black slaveowners is explored. However, the author does nothing to take the reader beyond documented fact. Readers looking for a poignant journey should look elsewhere.
Book Description
A whip-cracking anthology of erotica-60 stories in all.
Thirty stories for the Master...
...told in the voices of dominant men exercising power over their willing women-- who worship the pleasures these men so forcefully provide.
And thirty stories for the Slave...
...in which the pleasure of submission is celebrated, revered, and fulfilled. This is the anthology that pushes erotica to the limits.
Customer Reviews:
wants and needs.......2007-01-21
this book was a fast read and done well.. I have given several copies of this to my friends
Fantastic Read...........2007-01-04
This was my first adventure into this type of book. This book is a compilation of short storied, half from the bottom, and half from the top. I was mesmerized, and read the whole book in one sitting. It was an incredible adventure. I felt like I was a fly on the wall of "how the other side lives". I loved it, and I'm sure I will read it again.
30 on Top 30 on the bottom.......2006-05-11
Needless to say, I was not disappointed. In the genre of BDSM there are some very extreemly fantastical tales out there. This is not one of them. Having a selection of 60 tales to chose from, pick your favorite. However you should be warned that this book has a specific theme, that is to say, the Tops are all male and the bottoms are all female. If that is not to your taste, this is not worth spending the money on. If you're more into vanilla erotica, why are you even reading this? Violence is the theme of this anthology and shocking as it may be to new comers to the genre, the women bottoms in these stories love it.
This collection of anthology is the best I have found so far. The narratives actually have literary style which is not always the case in most eroticas. This is one of those books that you'll either love or hate. In my case, it was one of the best books I bought in the genre to date.
Something new that didn't disappoint.......2006-03-02
I've read erotica before but I'm pretty new to BDSM erotica. To tell you the truth the stories I've read in the past usually scared me to bits that I've shied away from them. I usually found those stories too far fetched and just too much for my tastes. But the stories in Master/Slave made me give this genre another chance.
I got this book as a gift and I must say it is one of the best erotica anothologies I've ever read. The short stories here are very hot and sexy but at the same time love and romance are hinted at. Some are short and sweet and others run far longer. This is what makes it a great anthology. It's the variety. You get a little bit of everything.
I also liked the fact that each author wrote a little blurb right before the story to give a little insight of why they wrote it and what inspired them. M.T. Morley did a great job of compiling the right kind of stories into this compilation.
For those just taking a peek into BDSM erotica I think this is the book to start with. When reading either side of the book you can definitely get a feel for the characters desires and needs. I have many favorites in this book so in short I believe this is a must read.
Pretty good for short stories.......2006-01-31
This book has 30 short stories from each side - master/slave - so it's a very good book to get a good look into each side's head. Convenient to keep with you when you only have short periods to read. The stories range in their perception of master/slave relationships so it gives you a lot of different insights. Would definitely recommend.
Average customer rating:
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Uncle Tom's Cabin (Thrift Edition)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General | Classics | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Stowe, Harriet Beecher | Classics | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
19th Century | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Stowe, Harriet Beecher | ( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books | Shakespeare, William | Shaw, George Bernard | Stevenson, Robert Louis | Stoker, Bram
Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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Uncle Tom's Cabin (Cliffs Notes)
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ASIN: 0486440281 |
Book Description
The moving abolitionist novel that fueled the fire of the human rights debate in 1852 and melodramatically condemned the institution of slavery through such powerfully realized characters as Tom, Eliza, Topsy, Eva, and Simon Legree. First published more than 150 years ago, this monumental work is today being reexamined by critics, scholars, and students.
Customer Reviews:
Ok I guess.......2006-07-15
Well I bought this book for a summer reading assignment and I have to say it isn't the most interesting book in fact I don't really like it at all. I know its a classic but seriously, read this only if you must. The only plus side is that this is the cheapest version of it haha.
Average customer rating:
- Penguin Edition, edited by Douglas, is Not Reliable
- A must book for Everybody
- patronizin and preachifyin
- The unreadable classic- or Greatness of Influence vs. Literary quality
- The book that started the Civil War
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Uncle Tom's Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly (The Penguin American Library)
Harriet Beecher Stowe , and
Ann Douglas
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Classics | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Stowe, Harriet Beecher | Classics | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
19th Century | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
19th Century | British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Stowe, Harriet Beecher | ( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books | Shakespeare, William | Shaw, George Bernard | Stevenson, Robert Louis | Stoker, Bram
Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0140390030 |
Book Description
Arguably the most influential novel in American history, Uncle Tom's Cabin fanned the embers of the struggle between free states and slave states into the fire of the Civil War-and is as powerful and relevant today as when it was first published a century and a half ago.
Customer Reviews:
Penguin Edition, edited by Douglas, is Not Reliable.......2007-07-07
My one-star rating applies only to the Penguin edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Penguin edition, edited by Ann Douglas, has a high rate of transcription error. So it is not suitable for serious study.
I listed a selection (over 100) of the transcription errors in the Penguin edition for a presentation at the 2007 American Literature Association conference. For example, the Penguin edition on page 619 (in the 4 copies that I've examined) has the following line:
"If the laws of New England were so arranged that a master could [it]now and then[/it] torture an apprentice to death, would it be received with equal composure?"
In the 1852 Jewett edition (the first printing in book form), the sentence included an additional clause:
"If the laws of New England were so arranged that a master could [it]now and then[/it] torture an apprentice to death, without a possibility of being brought to justice, would it be received with equal composure?"
This error--the omission of "without a possibility of being brought to justice"--diminishes a key theme in Stowe's work. I encourage scholars, teachers, and students to purchase Ammons's or Sklar's editions of UTC. Among editions that I've examined, those editions have more reliable texts. I have not examined the new Bedford edition (Railton) or the new Norton edition (Gates and Robbins).
If you choose to buy some other edition, perhaps your choice will encourage Penguin to publish a corrected edition. This edition was ranked 41,945 at Amazon when I wrote this review in July of 2007.
A must book for Everybody.......2007-01-18
I found this book very well written. It is interesting that the author chose not only to show the terrible suffering that came from slavery, but also she revealed how slavery extracts a toll on the master. Personally it exemplifies how religion can (as in many cases throughout history) support and justify cruelty and violence. This book should stir everyone at the gut level. I don't want to forget to add that I like the Modern Library Classics format. At the end of the book is discussion questions and commentary by other famous authors.
patronizin and preachifyin.......2006-05-23
I wasn't ready to enjoy this novel and the first 60 pp reinforced this prejudice. The beginning is filled with Stowe's rendition of slave's speech--"ah's gwyne ter make corn pone fer Mas'r"--which most modern readers will find demeaning. Fortunately this tones down.
As a non-religious person I have a low tolerance for preachifyin, but it bothered me less as the novel progressed, as it became obvious that the most effective argument against slavery at the time was righteous Christianity. The issue was not the equality of the races, though Stowe does allow for that (not bad for 1850!), but that a Christian should not own humans, period. Whether the slaves were happy-go-lucky, sentimental, childlike, superstitious--all these supposed attributes of one race or another--all these were irrelevant to her.
Through the character of St Clare she argues that the greater sin of slave owners was their hypocrisy rather than the ownership per se. That owners might claim justification from some obscure passage in the Bible was an outrage. Better to simply admit that you hold slaves because you have the power to do so, and it makes your life easier. If you are to be wicked, admit it at least--don't hide behind some nonsensical religious rationalization. If the slave owners could be honest about their reasons, then there might be hope of winning the moral argument.
The characters are one-dimensional--pure good, pure evil, not much in between. Most are what we now see as stereotypes. They merely function as tools of the plot and the point. What I didn't expect was that the story itself would be as exciting as it was. It moves right along. This overcomes the preachiness and the simplicity of the characters, and is the reason so many read the book. Even for all its patronizin and preachifyin, it's a page-turner.
As others have noted it is amazing to see how "Uncle Tom", portrayed as noble and saintly, has become such a term of derision.
Finally, if you are going to read this, don't read the Introduction until after you've read the novel, as it gives away several plot points that you are better off encountering for yourself in the novel.
The unreadable classic- or Greatness of Influence vs. Literary quality.......2006-01-15
When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe he reportedly said, "This is the little woman who made the great war". The tremendous influence of this book on Anti-Slavery attitudes are considered to be a very real factor in leading to atmosphere which helped bring about the Civil War. This work is thus in terms of its 'real effect' in the 'real world ' far more important than 'Moby Dick' or " Leaves of Grass' or 'The Scarlet Letter ' or 'Walden', the greatest books of the American Renaissance.
The literary quality of the book is in no proportion to the Influence which it had.
I have found it an almost impossible read, in good part because of its language.
The book that started the Civil War.......2006-01-09
Throughout history, few books have garnered more controversy than Harriet Beecher Stowe's UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. When he met Mrs. Stowe in 1861, President Lincoln proclaimed, "So you're the little woman that wrote the book started this great war." That may be a bit of an overstatement, but the book certainly had enormous social and political consequences.
In the social structure that has evolved since the emancipation of slaves in this country, few labels have a more derogatory intent to the black person than being called an "Uncle Tom". We hear it repeatedly used to indicate a black person who chooses not to follow in lockstep with the direction of radical black anarchist leaders. For the life of me, I can't grasp that concept. What greater compliment than to be referred to as a man who faced such immense adversity yet who remained steadfast in his faith.
I realize the argument is that Tom did as he was told and refused to stand up for himself, but that argument only portrays the shallowness of a society that has been more and more anti-Christian as time goes by. Those who would make that argument fail to see the strength and courage it takes for a true Christian to resist temptation and consistently put personal challenge into the Lord's hands.
This book, today, receives a tremendous amount of criticism for Stowe's constant Christian "preaching" throughout the book. Stowe, born in 1811, is of the founding daughter generation. Her strong portrayal of Christian virtue is yet another reminder that America was founded on Christian principles. People today, in our society where Christianity is under constant criticism, hate to admit that America once was, and was intended to be, a Christian nation. At the time of its publishing, Stowe's work was criticized for being biased towards anti-slavery, but was never criticized for its expression of Christian virtues.
For me, and I'm sure others, the book does have one great flaw. Mrs. Stowe was well known for accurately depicting the vernacular of a particular region. While that may add authenticity to a story, it also creates a painfully tedious read. That is the case here. This is not a book that most people could pick up and read at once. For me, it was a long daily process of 10-20 pages at a time.
Here is an example of what I'm referring to;
"I'm thinkin' my old man won't know de boys and de baby. Lor'! she's de biggest gal, now, -good she is, too, and peart, Polly is. She's out to the house, now, watchin' de hoe-cake. I's got jist de very patern my old man liked so much a bakin'. Jist sich as I gin him the mornin' he was took off. Lord bless us! How I felt, dat ar mornin'!"
I'm sure there are readers who appreciate such authenticity, but for me, and I'm sure untold masses of high-school students who once found this on their "required reading" list, that is just plain tedious. My only other knock on the book is the "happily ever after" ending which Stowe gave to several of the main characters. For those once trapped in the bondage of slavery, I don't believe too many of them lived out that kind of scenario.
That said, if you've not read this book, do so. Find a way struggle through it. Stowe gives portrayals of both sides of the slavery coin. By that I mean, she managed to portray that many slave owners considered their slaves as family members and treated them with respect and kindness, while there were also other owners who viewed slaves as mere possessions to be abused and defiled.
This book may not have started the Civil War, but it most certainly had a profound effect upon society like few books in history have ever had. That fact, in and of itself, makes this book a must read for everyone.
Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com
Book Description
This is a study that digs deeply into this "other" slavery, the bondage of Europeans by north-African Muslims that flourished during the same centuries as the heyday of the trans-Atlantic trade from sub-Saharan Africa to the Americas. Here are explored--perhaps for the first time--the actual extent of Barbary Coast slavery, the dynamic relationship between master and slave, and the effects of this slaving on Italy, one of the slave takers' primary targets and victims.
Customer Reviews:
Hmmm. Important but misleading........2007-08-02
1. It is an important book in chronicaling slavery throughout the world in the last 500 years.
2. However, it misleads the reader to think that slavery was the same throughout the world. Though evil is evil, it is important to recognize that different cultures had different rules, rules that could make or break a person. For example, Muslim slavery rarely involved the enslavement of a person for life, especially not that person's offspring. In most cases slaves could not even be sold from person to person and had several rights concerning family.
This marks a vital difference between their practice with slavery and the European practice of chattel slavery: where a person was a slave for life, had NO rights concerning family, and their offspring were immediately and forever the property of their enslaver.
3. The other problem with this book is that it suggests that the primary way that Muslims got European slaves was through raids. On the contrary, just like in Africa, raiding was a minor way of obtaining slaves. The truth is that the Europeans, like Africans, sold each other into slavery. There were various massive ports in Europe, such as Venice in Italy, that grew wealthy from the selling of other Europeans into slavery.
The Triumph Of Greed.......2007-04-27
This book illuminates an important dynamic of history. Africans were enslaving Europeans. Europeans were enslaving Africans. Africans were selling the members of competing African tribes to Europeans for enslavement. The constant in all this is greed.
Slavery in the East.......2007-01-11
While the book was interesting from an historical perspective, it is one not meant for leisure reading. I commend the writer for diligence in research and recommend this as a supplimental text for the person interested in reading additional materials relating to the current conflict between Christians and Muslims.
A wonderful read to reflect on the history and today.......2006-12-01
Reading this wonderful book, one cannot help to reflect on the history since then when such slave trade took place, as well as what Europe is facing today. It is important to remember the history and learn the necessary lesson from it, otherwise, we have no way to prevent the history from repeating itself. I also cannot help to wonder: why such history is not told in our schools and in our media? What is the reason that this history has become so sensitive even after 200 years since its end that our governments and our media would never want us to know?
Have our governments and our media sold their soles so that they can justify what they did to promote foreign interests that are damaging our own culture, our free society and the Western civilization in every way?
How could we allow those people who want to kill anyone who do not obey their god to come to our society? How could we allow those threathening our fundamental rights of free expression and liberty everyday living in our society with the best social welfare and benefits? How could we allow those people to build the mosques that are mushrooming our landscape where every moment the hatred to the Western culture and Christianity is taught and the worst brainwash is conducted, and all financed by our taxpayers' money? (in Germany there are more than 3,000 mosques already, more in France, all financed by the governments)How could we allow those talk to give both Islam and Christianity a equal status in the West while our own politicians are trying so hard to destroy our own religion to please those who tried for several centuries but never succeeded?
Of course, there are many immigrants who want to integrate into our society and be good citizens, but there are also people who oppose our civilization in every way, who want to kill us and destroy our society for their religion. We used to fight enemies who invade us from the outside, now thanks to our governments, we have to fight them from within. It is almost an impossible task. With the birth rate of Muslims 5 times of the Christians in the last 50 years, we are becoming minorities in our own countries faster than we have realized.
After reading the world-famous journalist, writer Oriana Fallaci's book THE FORCE OF REASON, I know the West is heading for a total self-destruction. Now with this book on an important part of Western history which has almost lost, everyone living in the West should reflect on the urgency of today and to use our rights to fight for our freedom, now or never. It is our responsibility to prevent the history from repeating itself.
Little known history.......2006-01-06
Mass slavery in the popular imagination had always been associated with the capture and subsequent enslavement of Africans. With good reason. The sheer scale of the African slave trade stretched the limits of imagination. Enslaved Africans were ubiquitous from Brazil to the Carribbean to the plantations in the Southern United States. Slavery undergirded economies, dehumanized victims and victimizers alike and generated profits for those who benefited from this egregious institution. In the Western world, especially the United States, the history of slavery bares a black face. There is no denying the suffering of Africans in bondage. Robert C. Davis, author of Chritian Slaves, Muslim Masters,however, presents us with another picture of bondage, one no less brutal, repressive and disheartening. This bondage was experienced by Europeans at the hands of North African Muslims. Between 1500 and 1800, dates in the subtitle, corsairs sanctioned by the North African govenments of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and Morrocco attacked European ships in the Medditeranean and raided European shores. These plundering expeditions netted hundreds of thousands of captives. As many as a million and a quarter Europeans, according to the author, were enslaved by North Africans. A small figure compared to the estimated twelve million Africans carried off to the new world over a span of centuries, but not an inconsiderable one by itself. The author channels a prodigious research effort into a detailed anaylsis of slave life, how they were captured, their national origins, the types of labor they were consigned to and their physical and mental states. Muslims raids reached as far afield as Iceland, but the proximity of Italy to the North African coast made it a convenient and frequent target for Muslim slaving activities. For that reson, the author devotes a considerable amount of space to how Italians coped with constant raids along their shores. The parallels the reader can draw between European and African slavery during this period are undeniable. Captured human beings in both cases came from all walks of life. Their traumatic experience of capture was compounded by the humiliation of being displayed to prospective buyers like merchandise. As there was no plantation system in North Africa, Europeans did not toil in the midst of sugar canes or cotton fields. Many, however, were put to work in galleys, others hauling rocks at construction sites, working in mines or cutting timber. Whatever their labor, Davis decribes horrendous conditions to which European slaves were subjected; disease, unabated hunger, all manner of cruelty inflicted upon them by their masters and the general despair of captivity. Of course, a European slave had a higher chance of seeing his homeland again than an African slave. North Africans were more keen on ransoming their captives than Europeans and Americans in possession of African slaves. Still, lifelong captivity was the sad fate of a myriad of Europeans caught by Barbary corsairs. The tone of this book is purely scholastic. Facts and figures are prominant, but anecdotal accounts from primary sources add a human element to this work. The author does more than reveal this little known history of slavery in all its sordid detail. He delves into some historiograhpy, offering his theory on why European slavery has been downplayed in the annals. His take on this matter is a fitting conclusion to a well researched, remarkably informative book.
Average customer rating:
- Uncle Tom was certainly no "Uncle Tom"
- Great Classic
- A different perspective on a much avoided subject
- great book at LSMS
- Explains a Great Deal
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Uncle Tom's Cabin (Oxford World's Classics)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0192827871 |
Book Description
`So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!' These words, said to have been uttered by Abraham Lincoln, signal the celebrity of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The first American novel to become an international best-seller, Stowe's novel charts the progress from slavery to freedom of fugitives who escape the chains of American chattel slavery, and of a martyr who transcends all earthly ties. At the middle of the nineteenth-century, the names of its characters - Little Eva, Topsy, Uncle Tom - were renowned. A hundred years later, `Uncle Tom' still had meaning, but, to Blacks everywhere it had become a curse. This edition firmly locates Uncle Tom's Cabin within the context of African-American writing, the issues of race and the role of women. Its appendices include the most important contemporary African-American literary responses to the glorification of Uncle Tom's Christian resignation as well as excerpts from popular slave narratives, quoted by Stowe in her justification of the dramatization of slavery, Key to Uncles Tom's Cabin.
Customer Reviews:
Uncle Tom was certainly no "Uncle Tom".......2007-08-29
Back a few years ago, I bought the entire series of Library of America books, some 173 books, each with as many as 1,600 small-print pages. Typically, each volume contains several books (say novels) by an author.
The quality of the writing they have selected is marvelous. There are very few "dogs". Below are my ratings of all the stuff I've read so far (a miniscule fraction of the total library), along with, of course, my completely nonsensical (often sports or pop culture) author nicknames.
And they keep sending me new books faster than I can read the existing ones...
Practically all that I've read ranges from good to fantastic, and I stop reading ones I don't like, so almost all of the books cited below are worthy by my standards. No stars means good, * means especially good, ** means great, and I think I also gave one or two books ***. The numbers are the series # of the book out of the 173 published so far.
A book of Henry James' fiction (not in this series) that I read about 3 years ago got me started on this quest, a supplement to my quest of playing the entire history of baseball via APBA.
1. Herman "Franks" Melville: Typee* ("Idyllic") 316 pps
1. Herman "Franks" Melville: Omoo ("Picks up where Typee left off") 330 pps
2. Nathaniel "Nate the Skate" Hawthorne: Assorted Stories ("Some hard to follow") 301 pps
4. Harriet "and Ozzy" Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin** ("Uncle Tom is no 'Uncle Tom'") 520 pps
5. Mark "Shania" Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer* ("Hilarious moments for a different kind of Tom") 216 pps
10. Nathaniel "Nate the Skate" Hawthorne: Fanshawe* ("Young scholar, romance, skullduggery") 114 pps
6. Jack "Gene" London: The Call of the Wild ("Savage") 86 pps
6. Jack "Gene" London: White Fang* ("Roger Vick-type dog-fighting
action") 198 pps
8. William Dean "Bailey" Howells: A Foregone Conclusion* ("Gripping, intricate romance") 172 pps
8. William Dean "Bailey" Howells: A Modern Instance ("Marriage gone awry in repressed times") 418 pps
11. Francis "Shibe" Parkman: Pioneers of France in the New World** ("What it was REALLY like") 330 pps
11. Francis "Shibe" Parkman: The Jesuits in North America* ("More of these accurate depictions") 382 pps
14. Henry "Don" Adams: Democracy** ("Real politics 1800's-style")
16. Washington "Dr. J" Irving: Early writings ("Boring at times") 87 pps
18. Stephen "Whooping" Crane: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets ("Fascinating but grim") 74 pps
18. Stephen "Whooping" Crane: The Red Badge of Courage* ("True face of war") 134 pps
19. Edgar "Teletubbie" Poe: Assorted Stories ("Truly weird") 188 pps
29. Henry "Edgeron" James: Washington Square* ("Plain woman trapped") 190 pps
30. Edith Wharton "School": The House of Mirth* ("Reese Witherspoon plays role in movie") 348 pps
33. Frank "Chuck" Norris: Vandover and the Brute ("Wolf-man emerges") 260 pps
33. Frank "Chuck" Norris: McTeague** ("Greed prevails") 312 pps
35. Willa "Thrilla" Cather: Assorted stories ("Oblique") 76 pps
36. Theodore "Early" Dreiser: Sister Carrie** ("Young lives go opposite directions") 456 pps
37. Benjamin "Joe" Franklin Assorted Writings* ("Brilliant satire") 87 pps
39. Flannery "Father" O'Connor: Wise Blood ("Liked better at 25") 132 pps
55. Richard "Gary" Wright: Lawd Today!** ("Unforgettable humor, violence") 220 pps
59. Sinclair "Jerry" Lewis: Main Street* ("Small-town USA") 486 pps
69. "Ornery" Sarah Orne Jewett: Deephaven* ("Atmospheric")
72. John "Franken" Steinbeck: The Pastures of Heaven** ("Modern Gothic") 170 pps
74. Zora Neale "Zorro" Hurston: Jonah's Gourd Vine ("Black preacher")
97. James "I think I'm going" Baldwin: Go Tell it on the Mountain ("Conversion experience") 216 pps
101. Eudora "The Explorer" Welty: The Robber Bridegroom ("Ridiculous fairy tale") 88 pps
103. Brockden "Les" Brown: Wieland* ("Early Gothic chills") 228 pps
111. Henry "Etta" James: Assorted Stories 1864-74** ("Consistently compelling") 430 pps
117. F. Scott "Ella" Fitzgerald: This Side of Paradise* ("Ultimately sublime") 252 pps
126. Dawn "Boog" Powell: Dance Night* ("Small-town romance in 1920's") 204 pps
134. Paul "Super" Bowles: The Sheltering Sky* ("Sophisticates lost in Africa") 252 pps
148. James T. "Turk" Farrell: Young Lonigan* ("Coming of age in tough streets") 176 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Soldier's
Pay*** ("Unique, gripping") 256 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Mosquitos** ("Indescribable romp") 284 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Flags in the Dust ("Doomed family") 336 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": The Sound and the Fury ("Bewildering") 268 pps
Great Classic.......2007-06-01
Our book club decided to read some old classics and we were all surprised to find that none of our members had read Uncle Tom's Cabin, except a French woman who had read it in school in French! A little hard to get into with the style of writing and the dialog, it soon became a real page-turner for me as I got caught up in the story and the characters. Stowe paints a very interesting picture of the times, and it provoked one of the best discussions that our book club has had. No wonder this book was a best seller, both in the US and Europe. Highly recommend this book!
A different perspective on a much avoided subject.......2007-05-25
This story is the most personal account of living in the time of slavery that I have ever read, and I thought it was phenomenal. It was poignant and well written, and it really tugged at the heart strings. What I enjoyed most about the story was how it looked at the point of view of so many players during the slave owning era (Northern compassionates, Southern slave owners with and without guilt, slaves, mothers, husbands, families, etc.). Since I am not from the South, I had a little trouble with the southern dialog, but it didn't keep me from understanding the flow of the story.
I am very glad that I read this book considering history classes don't really delve into the emotional and personal history of slavery in the South. School just treats this period of time as a "stain" on our history and doesn't like to confront it for what it was.
When I look back at the time this book was written, it must've blown people's hair back. For those people of the 1800's to see that slaves were not merely "property," but had the capability of having the same family values, religious beliefs, and sense of social insight as themselves must've made them think twice about the way they treated these people. No wonder why this book was one of the catalysts to spark the Civil War.
If you don't look at this story from the point it was written, you'll lose something in the translation. But if you imagine someone reading this before the Civil War and imagine what they are learning about the human soul, the equality of it whether it is white or not, you'll feel enriched.
I recommend that everyone read this story. It is full of so many valuable life lessons (content of character, faith, compassion, loyalty) that you shouldn't pass it up.
great book at LSMS.......2007-04-27
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a great inspiring book that shows true events in U.S. History. It is a book that shows how evil and cruel slavery really was. After Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the book during slavery, it helped everyone understand what was happening in their world and this book turned more people towards antislavery which fueled the Civil War. Uncle Tom's Cabin shows people to be kind towards others. This is a great book about the slave days and was enjoyable to read.
Explains a Great Deal.......2007-03-26
I read Uncle Tom's Cabin a few years ago, and was genuinely touched. I saw immediately why it became one of the most influential books in the history of our country, and possibly the world. The story of Uncle Tom is sure to leave you changed, whether you are black or white, racist or humanitarian. It really explains how different people viewed the institution of slavery. After reading this book, many die-hard proponents of slavery gave up defending it. And abollitionists were fired up more than ever before. If you read only 5 books this year, let Uncle Tom's Cabin be one of them. You'll never look at slavery, US history, or the plight of black people the same!
Amazon.com
In 1995 Madison Smartt Bell published All Souls' Rising, earning both critical plaudits and a National Book Award nomination for this fictional account of Haiti's 18th-century slave rebellion. Now he continues the saga with Master of the Crossroads, the second volume of a projected trilogy. Even in his earlier narratives of contemporary America, the author has always been attuned to the byzantine politics of color. But by focusing on the figure of Toussaint Louverture--the black general who led the Haitians to independence only to be jailed for treason against the French Republic--Bell allows the politics of race to point him in unexpected and rewarding narrative directions. This is a big, muscular book, which derives much of its strength from the author's willingness to paint his tumultuous political and physical landscapes with broadly sweeping strokes. But it is also a work of surprising delicacy, whose finely drawn characters come to life with the minutest gesture or softly whispered word.
The crossroads herein are not merely literal but metaphorical. Yes, the former slaves and their courageous leader are pinned down in the island's remote interior, caught between the English forces and the Spanish army (their nominal yet treacherous ally). But more to the point, Haiti's intricate progress from slavery to freedom brings each of the characters to a crucial, defining moment of energy or introspection. And finally, swirling through the book like an island mist, is the voodoo figure of Mâit' Kalfou, or the "Master of the Crossroads." Straddling the worlds of the dead and the living, this ecstatic spirit may at any time inhabit the body of a believer:
Between Legba and Kalfou the crossroads stood open now, and now Guiaou could feel that opened pathway rushing up his spine--passage from the Island Below Sea inhabited by les Morts et les Mystères. His hips melted into the movement of the drums, and the tails of the red coat swirled around his legs like feathers of a bird. With the other dancers he closed the small, tight circle around Legba and Kalfou, who faced each other as in a mirror: the shining surface of the waters, which divides the living from the dead.
Throughout, Bell's captivating vision of the battlefield bears witness to his rigorous research. Still, the voodoo celebrations, and the author's sly evocation of their unexpected resonance, remain the novel's strongest moments. Why? They speak, perhaps, to the apocalyptic nature of the Haitian rebellion. And more intriguingly, they permit Bell to play with the deceptive nature of belief and reality--a move that, in an avowedly historical novel, hints at the ironic fluidity of history itself. --Kelly Flynn
Book Description
Continuing his epic trilogy of the Haitian slave uprising, Madison Smartt Bell’s
Master of the Crossroads delivers a stunning portrayal of Toussaint Louverture, former slave, military genius and liberator of Haiti, and his struggle against the great European powers to free his people in the only successful slave revolution in history. At the outset, Toussaint is a second-tier general in the Spanish army, which is supporting the rebel slaves’ fight against the French. But w hen Toussaint is betrayed by his former allies and the commanders of the Spanish army, he reunites his army with the French, wresting vital territories and manpower from Spanish control. With his army one among several factions, Toussaint eventually rises as the ultimate victor as he wards off his enemies to take control of the French colony and establish a new constitution.
Bell’s grand, multifaceted novel shows a nation, splintered by actions and in the throes of chaos, carried to liberation and justice through the undaunted tenacity of one incredible visionary.
Customer Reviews:
As Magnificent as All Souls' Rising, and that's saying a lot.......2005-07-28
I'm in the middle of the trilogy here, so I don't want to waste too much time writing about the unfinished work, but after 750 pages, let me note that I'm still spellbound by Bell's work. I love the way the title informs the whole work: at each crossroads (and there are many) I marvel at Toussaint's vision. Sometimes he slips out of his carriage or off the road at just the right time to avoid ambush or attack, more often than not in a kind of trance. The crossroads also seems like the meeting of two worlds, whether the spiritual and carnal, the Christian and Vodoun, or European and African. Riau and even Doctor Hebert have some mastery of those crossroads, as do some of the minor characters like Claudine and Moustique. I love the religious syncretism of this novel -- it's at once modern and ancient. Haiti is such a melting pot of culture, race, history, and belief that it's no wonder the stew is still bubbling. Even in poverty and despair, something so rich, so deeply, darkly true is being created that this reader feels compelled to journey there to taste it for himself.
The violence and politics continue to shock and delight. I particularly loved the story of Choufleur in this novel -- the kind of character you love to hate -- and the complex portrayal of Elise's new husband, Toquet. As for the many developments in the life of the characters -- births, deaths, victories, defeats, etc. -- one reads them passionately, but after 1500 pages they are threads in a tapestry that's still a work in progress. I'd love to discuss them with others, but I'm moving on.
In the meantime, there are the pleasures of Bell's trilogy to savor and enjoy. His writing is so confident, his grasp of the wide sweep of narrative and history so embracing, and his sense of the eternal so inspiring that I eagerly plunge on to The Stone that the Builders Refused.
My Bicorne goes off to Bell.......2005-04-18
The depth and breadth of Bell's research indicates a colossal, inhuman effort that would take most people a lifetime, never mind the collation and fictionalisation of it afterwards. Haiti's colonial past is so convoluted it almost defies analysis, especially as much of her written history has been destroyed during centuries of successive sackings and burnings, and climate.
The violence contained within is grim and profoundly depressing - the horror, the horror, the horror - but it did happen and is still happening. Don't blame Bell for your revulsion. Use it to help the people who still live in Haiti.
I see there's some criticism about `magic realism' in this trilogy, but Bell clearly understands the part Vodou played in the Revolution, that Vodou - a valid religion born of slavery - ultimately helped slaves to overthrow slavery, although more so in the initial uprisings (i.e. Boukman). Today, without Vodou, the French would probably be using Haiti for nuclear testing, not that the average Haitian would be much worse off.
To bring the history and Vodou of Haiti together in such a linear historical masterpiece as this trilogy is nothing short of miraculous. Bell is surely served by the lwa, and if he isn't he should be.
"Crossroads" of Destiny.......2001-07-28
Note: This review was published November 12, 2000, in the Seattle Times ...
The American Revolution helped inspire the French Revolution, which in turn sparked the Haitian Revolution -- an uprising of Africans against the sugar plantation owners who wrung their fabulous wealth from slave labor. Madison Smartt Bell's projected trilogy of historical novels tells the least well known of these momentous late-18th-century stories.
Volume 1, "All Souls Rising," traced the gruesome first stages of the rebellion in the French colony then called Saint Domingue, from 1791 to 1794. One who hasn't read that harrowing masterpiece can still enjoy Volume 2, "Master of the Crossroads," based on events of the next five years. In this novel the revolution is well under way, but the outcome is still uncertain.
It's a tumultuous, confusing time. The Spanish, who own the eastern half of Saint Domingue, and the British, who are at war with France, separately hope to oust the French, subdue the blacks, and possess the island known worldwide as the Jewel of the Antilles. Among the islanders, the French blancs, or white colonials, have split into factions: the royalists who want to enslave the Africans again, and the revolutionaries who believe that liberty is a universal human right. Old disputes flare between native-born Haitians and immigrants, between mulatto plantation owners and poorer mulattos, between rivals among the island's 500,000 rebellious Africans and, more broadly, between members of the resident races - 64 in all, according to France's official classification of blends ranging from Blanc to Négre.
Toussaint Louverture, whose amazing career Jacob Lawrence memorialized in a series of paintings, is at the center of the storm. Small and tough, formerly a slave, he possesses such extraordinary charisma and talent for leadership that he can force, frighten, mystify, or cajole various factions into agreeing to work for peace. Toussaint unites the armed, roving bands of blacks who seized their liberty and transforms them into a well-disciplined army. A brilliant military tactician, he regularly defeats the English and Spanish forces. His political gifts make him a formidable negotiator with the French and a master at switching alliances at strategic moments. He alone seems committed to protecting, regardless of the race or ideology of their owners, the lives and property that survived the time of bloodbath and burning.
Toussaint's motives are endlessly debated in the book. People close to him believe that he is unselfishly devoted to securing liberty and peace for everyone. But rumors that he secretly plans to crown himself King and reinstate slavery multiply. We view him from the perspectives of many different characters, yet he remains a mystery: a presence with a godlike power in crisis, an inscrutable Master of the Crossroads like the voudou deity of crossings and change, Legba.
Readers who can tolerate a little disorientation from chaotic historical events swirling around an enigmatic hero will have a wonderful time with this novel. Many of the episodes are works of literary art, the Haitian landscape is superbly rendered, and the characters are fully realized and memorable. We come to care deeply about them: Doctor Hébert; his beloved mistress Nanon; his sister Elise and her smuggler husband Tocquet; Hébert's friends the French captain Maillart and the African captain Riau; the African soldier Guiaou who is Riau's rival in love; plucky, wanton Isabelle; the dreamy boy-priest Moustique; the elusive, fascinating Toussaint.
Since Bell can't string their stories on a clear historical plot-line (this history is a tangle) he braids the everyday incidents and subtleties of their private lives into a central strand to which scattered public events can be tied. The characters, absorbed in ordinary pursuits, are regularly pulled into battles and intrigues, then released again into personal concerns. The point of view shifts from chapter to chapter, and we open each new one with the pleasure of greeting an old friend.
Nobody achieves an overall view of events -- which is partly the point. Yet even patient readers will wish for an index of characters keyed to page numbers. It's hard to keep people named Dessources, Dessalines, Desrouleaux, and Desfourneaux straight in a complicated narrative (sometimes set in Descahaux) with a cast of hundreds that also includes Delahaye and Dieudonné. The author's memory itself falters - the girl Paulette is called Pauline for a while -- but the Glossary and Chronology help.
Without them "Master of the Crossroads" would still be a stunning achievement: marvelously crafted, meticulous in its historical detail, magnificent in its sweep.
Ponderous and sporadically involving.......2001-04-02
Madison Smartt Bell's second volume of his projected trilogy about the Haitian uprising of 1793-1804 is alternately gripping and ponderous. After having been enthralled by "All Souls' Rising" I have to say I was disappointed with this follow-up.
The same characters are all there as are Bell's masterful historical descriptions but something was missing. I too often grew bored and had to put the book down. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that dissuades me from giving this book a stellar review. I suppose at the end of the day I didn't feel as though I really learned much about any of these characters, and subsequently, I didn't care about them. Toussaint L'Ouverture remains somewhat of an enigma despite Bell's painstakingly detailed account. Perhaps this is intentional. Perhaps the point here is that Toussaint is - was - unknowable. This may well be true, but it doesn't make for satisfying reading.
Again, there are impressive set pieces galore. Bell's mastery of historical detail is staggering and genuine moments of suspense sporadically leap off the page. But in the end, none of this was enough to keep me compelled.
Historical fiction at its finest.......2001-03-11
I'd second what the other reviewers noted but would like to add that this is a follow-up to Bell's highly-praised All Souls Rising, also a masterful book about Haiti and one which first introduced many of these characters. The legacy of Toussaint is important for Haiti today, and this book gives valuable insights into today's world. The book can be a tough read--many of the descriptions of the atrocities are brutal--but is well worth the effort. Take time to read the timeline in the appendix and find out what happened after Toussaint's arrest.
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