The Life of Olaudah Equiano (Dover Thrift Editions)

Book Description

Compelling work traces the formidable journey of an Igbo prince from captivity to freedom and literacy and recounts his enslavement in the New World, service in the Seven Years War, voyages to the Arctic, 6 months among the Miskito Indians in Central America, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Historical Document about Slavery.......2007-03-04

In the later parts of 1700s some opposition of slavery was developed due to horrendous accounts given by merchants and slaves, like Equiano. That was the first time in history when opposition of slavery grew. And this is one of them.

This book gives account of the life of a slave. Before he gets kidnapped, he gives some accounts of slavery back in Africa, which is a lot different than the ones in Americas or England.

Many people who have read this book said it's either BORING or VERY INTERESTING. I think this book is interesting, though, but I can't consider it as a favorite book of mine. It has hard to read; lots of big words. There's also a lot of switch-back-and-forths between where events take place and I couldn't really keep it up. Maybe because I was reading too fast or maybe because I wasn't following too well.

This book is like a life of a slave. BUT NOT the kind of slave that you would expect. It has no similarities compared to Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. It's totally a different account. So if you expect to read a horrific story about slavery in Americas, don't choose this one. This book will give you a pretty good idea of how Africans were treated. (A lot of times this story takes place on a ship.)

Packaging.......2005-09-20

The item was fine, but why did it have to be packed in such a big box. It did not fit in the mail box so it had to be picked up at the post office. Smaller packaging please, otherwise, everything was fine.

an 18th century spiritual and political autobiography.......2003-12-16

As an American who has grown up hearing and learning about slavery and the slave trade in the US, and mainly in the 19th century, I appreciated the insight Equiano's book gives into the institution from other parts of the world, and in particular how racism evolved within an institution that had been taken for granted for centuries and had not been particularly racist.

It is not the narrative of a victim. Not only does Equiano purchase his freedom halfway through the book, but also you can tell from the incidents he describes and from reading between the lines that he was a strong, even pugnacious person who didn't take any guff from people he did not respect. He was pragmatic, ambitious, and a fighter. While he accepted the social hierarchies of the time, including slavery itself until the latter part of his life, he shows no humility (except in terms of his spiritual condition). When he proposes to another person that he work for him as a servant, you get the feeling that he has just given that person an honor.

Equiano's autobiography is important for many other reasons. It is very much a book of its time, the late 18th century, when spiritual autobiographies were important both to the writers and the readers. (Make sure that when you buy an edition of this book you do not buy an edition that has been abridged, as the account of Equiano's religious/spiritual development is what has been cut, making hamburger of what remains). He has wonderful, sometimes acid, comments, to make on the churches he observes at the time. For example, here's his comment on a church service run by the Rev. George Whitfield, at which people are crowding out into the yard and standing on ladders to see into the church: "When I got into the church I saw this pious man exhorting the people with the greatest fervor and earnestness, and sweating as much as ever I did while in slavery....I thought it strange I had never seen divines exert themselves in this manner before; and was no longer at a loss to account for the thin congregations they preached to."

Equiano's autobiography is also a tale of his adventures: he served on board battle and merchant ships much of the time and saw action during the French and Indian war. He was also part of Phipps' search for a passge to India through the north pole, where their ship was frozen in ice just as Shackleford's was two centuries later.

And finally, Equiano's life and story become entwined with the British abolition movement. His book was intended to serve the movement, raising revulsion by demonstrating the cruel and unethical practices that rose from slavery and appealing to logic and the reader's sense of shame. He is one of the earliest writers to point out a psychological blindess in slave holders, the denial and the double vision they had to develop in order to justify themselves. The very existence of the book, written by a literate, very bright, and comfortably wealthy former slave put the lie to the racist arguments that Africans were best suited to slavery. And in one part of the book that is reminiscent of Mary Wollestonecraft, he speaks passionately that the ignorance and helplessness that was so striking in so many slaves had nothing to do with nature, and everything to do with social conditioning.

allows for personal reflection...........2002-12-25

It is hard to rate a book like this...

You must read it if you're even considering it and once you've read it, you should pass it on to someone else. Life dishes us a lot. Life dishes out some people more hardship than others and sometimes we get the opportunity to give ourselves and those we love a chance at a better life. Not only does this book tell a wonderful story of a man who found strength most of us never realize we possess, but in doing so - has proven the power of language, written and spoken. The world can be full of possobilities in even the most impossible situations - to say nothing of the horror we inflict upon each other...but that's another story.

An early English novel, with a twist........2002-02-20

This book has less to do with slavery and more to do with the quest for middle-class status in England. For comparison, one should also read "ROBINSON CRUSOE" by Daniel Defoe and "PAMELA" by Samuel Richardson.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself

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Olaudah, an African Heart.
Response to Robert Allison
Response to Robert Allison
caveat emptor

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself
Olaudah Equiano
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312442033

Book Description

Widely admired for its vivid accounts of the slave trade, Olaudah Equiano's autobiography -- the first slave narrative to attract a significant readership -- reveals many aspects of the eighteenth-century Western world through the experiences of one individual. The second edition reproduces the original London printing, supervised by Equiano in 1789. Robert J. Allison's introduction, which places Equiano's narrative in the context of the Atlantic slave trade, has been revised and updated to reflect the heated controversy surrounding Equiano's birthplace, as well as the latest scholarship on Atlantic history and the history of slavery. Improved pedagogical features include contemporary illustrations with expanded captions and a map showing Equiano's travels in greater detail. Helpful footnotes provide guidance throughout the eighteenth-century text, and a chronology and an up-to-date bibliography aid students in their study of this thought-provoking narrative.

Customer Reviews:

Olaudah, an African Heart........2005-11-10

Olaudah Equiano's narrative is his experience away from his dear home. The slave trade from the very beginning was one of the worst components of European history. This narrative is a moving but important historical document that recounts the hardship the slaves had to endure and survive in their nightmare to the New World.

"In this way I grew up till I had turned the age of eleven, when an end was put to my happiness..."(p.47). This way began the Olaudah's odyssey after been kidnapped and taken through many African countries reaching finally the African west coast and the slave ship that brought him/them to the West Indies and North America.

Africa, as the land of Equiano, was divided among different tribes with different organizations and related customs, in some cases speaking similar languages, in other cases as we see in the towns close to the coast, almost strangers. These tribes used to have their own defense system against the hunt and persecution of slave traffickers, which during the XVIII century it was a dark business, a daily affair, and a way of revenue.

That was the circumstance of this little boy and many others like him experiencing 'fatigue and grief'(p.47), 'violence and despair' (p.49), and wishing for death rather than anything else'(p.59). After they reached the slave ship waiting for its human cargo a chained multitude of black people of every description expressing dejection and sorrow (p.54) awaited to board in an overpopulated deck filled with horrors of every kind.

Many, as Equiano, were young and ignorant of what was happening, where they were going, and the reason for such adventure. They were told by other prisoners confessing to be 'carried to white people's country to work for them'(p.55), but of course the pain and suffering yet to come was a disguised mystery and heart destructive lifelong encounter. The living conditions of the journey were brutal and cruel: the smell, the vomiting, the cries, the anguish, and the suffocation under decks overcrowded where many of them were unable to reach the other side of the Atlantic, dying under those inhuman conditions. Sometimes some of them, embracing hopelessness, ran toward the open board and preferring death to such a life of misery, jumped into the sea (p.57), to die in the deep waters of the dark blue sea.
The Mediterranean labor shortage after the 8th century primarily brought about the African external slave trade. But the West Indies European demand for slaves changed all the institution of slavery transforming it in a deadly and huge intensive labor business. Two-thirds of all these immigrant slaves went directly to the Caribbean (Caribbean-West Indies-Brazil), and fewer than 1/20 went to Colonial North America which started 100 years later; and in 1671 we had already in Barbados (where Equiano first experienced the new world)30,000 slaves and 3,000 in Virginia.

A great deal of trembling and bitter cries from these terrified Africans of all languages did not stop whites from transporting them, as in Equiano's case, first to the island of Barbados unloading them at Bridgetown. They were transported to the merchant's yard, like sheep in a fold (p.58) without regard to sex or age. On a sign given to the buyers they run at once toward them and 'picked up' what parcel they like best. Many of them, family and friends, from that very moment were separated forever. Never to see each other again.
From the merchant's yard they were shipped to different North American Colonies as was needed and pleased the slave traders; one after another chapter of disgrace would be recounted over the 'white' shoulders for generations to come. Some slaves, as this poor boy, were taken as servants to England.
The conditions they confronted later on in sugar or rice plantations by their brutal slave codes and violent methods of control were deadly; much of the cases included diseases and no possibility to become free one day. They were treated as cheap merchandise, deprived of any human right given by our Creator.
The story of Olaudah Equiano over moistens my eyes. His narrative and lack of vengeance or hate; his imploration to the heart and the reason of supposed Christians made me feel the need to meet him and embrace him, and tell him: "Hope is not gone at all my friend.
Olaudah young boy, you were right when you cited those true gospel words:
"O, ye nominal Christians! Might not an African ask you--Learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?"

Alejandro Roque.

Response to Robert Allison.......2000-07-13

The 1772 publication date of Gronniosaw's _Narrative_ seems to have been recently established by Vincent Carretta in _Unchained Voices: An Anthology of Black Authors in the English-Speaking World of the 18th Century_ (Kentucky, 1996), with the evidence offered on pp. 53-54. The post-1791 editions in which Equiano understandably deletes the wording "My hand is ever free--if any female Debonair wishes to obtain it" after his April 7, 1792 marriage to Susanna Cullen are the 5th (Edinburgh, 1792), the 6th & 7th (both London, 1793), the 8th (Norwich, 1794), and the 9th and last (London, 1794). My source for this information is Vincent Carretta's authoritative Penguin edition of Equiano's _Interesting Narrative_ (1995), pp. 297-297, note 633. A reader from Virginia

Response to Robert Allison.......2000-07-13

caveat emptor.......1999-03-13

Prospective buyers of Mr. Allison's edition of Equiano's autobiography should be advised that although Mr. Allison says that his "edition follows the first American printing . . . (New York, 1791)" and that "the only significant changes . . . are the insertion of paragraph breaks and notes to the text," Mr. Allison does not warn the reader that he's silently combined parts of various editions of the autobiography to form a book Equiano himself never published. For example, if you compare the next-to-the-last paragraph (p. 195), in which Equiano mentions his marriage, to the passage on page 187, where he says his hand is free, you might get the impression that he's saying he's available for adultery or bigamy. But the fault lies not in Equiano, who changed the earlier passage after he added the paragraph about his marriage in 1792. What Mr. Allison gives us is his text, not Equiano's. And he might have mentioned that the New York edition was published without Equiano's knowledge or permission. Readers should also not assume that all "facts" given are true. For example, on page 21, Gronniosaw's book was published in 1772 (not 1770), Marrant's in 1785 (not 1790), and Equiano died on 31 March 1797 (not in April).

The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano

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The Kidnapped Prince
The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano
The Kidnapped Prince
Kidnapped Prince : The Life of Olaudah Equiano,
The Kidnapped Prince : The Life of Olaudah Equiano

The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano
Ann Cameron
Manufacturer: Yearling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375803467
Release Date: 2000-01-25

Book Description

Illus. with black-and-white archival engravings with an introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Customer Reviews:

The Kidnapped Prince.......2007-06-01

The Kidnapped Prince is an autobiography that tells about Olaudah Equiano being kidnapped and taken on a slave ship. Equiano has a lot of characteristics that helped him gain his freedom. Even though he suffered many injustices, he was honest. He was respectful and loyal. He was a hard worker. I thought the book was outstanding. Equiano kept going and went through many horrors of slavery. I learned to never give up and always keep trying. I would recommend this book to all the little kids like me, so they'll learn their lesson, never give up. (Alex, 5th grader in Oakland, CA)

The Kidnapped Prince is an autobiography that tells about an African boy's life and how he was carried into slavery and then became free. Olaudah's bravery, hard work, and honesty helped him become free. I didn't like the book. It was boring. I would still recommend it to other people because they may like it. (Tejenae, 5th grader, Oakland, CA)

The Kidnapped Prince is an autobiography that tells the story of an African boy who was kidnapped into slavery and how he found his freedom. Equiano was respectful, loyal, honest, and brave. These qualities helped him find freedom. Equiano taught me that you should be grateful for what you have. Equiano lost both of his parents and his sister but he was grateful for what he had. I would reommend this book because it teaches you things you don't know. (Alaezia, 5th grader, Oakland, CA)

The Kidnapped Prince is an autobiography about a young boy who was kidnapped from Africa and taken into slavery. There were many characteristics that helped Olaudah Equiano become free. He was sad, brave, and smart. This book showed me how slavery happened. It made me sad, because Equiano was separated from his family. I think others would like this book, so they could learn more about slavery. (Raven, 5th grader, Oakland, CA)

The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano.......2007-05-26

The following reviews are excerpted from book reports written by a 5th grade class in Oakland, CA.

Jamar:
This book is really good and interesting, but sometimes is difficult to understand. I admire Olaudah because he was extremely hardworking and brave. I would like to read this book again because it is very authentic.
Edwin:
Olaudah learned many things. He learned to speak English well and he learned to read and to write. He also learned to fire the gun on the ship and he learned navigation. Olaudah helped his master a lot. That's why he won his freedom at 21.
Da'Quan:
The main characters are Olaudah Equiano and the slave masters. The main idea is about an 11 year old boy who was kidnapped and taken into slavery in 1755 and who won won his freedom when he was 21 years old. I admire him because he he is spiritual and hardworking.
Rattana:
Olaudah is an example to others because he is smart and loyal. This is what led him to what everyone, of any race wants: FREEDOM.
Rudy:
I really liked this book because it actually felt like I could picture what was happening at times. The book seemed like an action/adventure kind of book.
DeSean:
I liked this book because it showed real events going on in the 1700's. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in adventure books and books about slavery.
Mayloni:
Olaudah is brave because he stood up for himself in some places. He is strong and hardworking. He is honest because he has never tried to run away from his masters.
Tyler:
Even though he was a slave, Olaudah worked hard for his masters. He worked harder than the free white men who got paid for their work.
Clayneisha:
This story started in 1755 when Olaudah and his sister were kidnapped from their home in Africa. But early in the morning he was separated from his sister and Olaudah cried and cried. Olaudah was scared. People stole his fruit and stuff and he wondered why they would do that. And he wondered about his sister. After awhile he learned not to be scared and he was always honest and hardworking for his masters.
Robert:
In conclusion, Olaudah Equiano is a good man. Throughout all his travels he still was strong. His sprituality did not fade but got stronger. Olaudah is my hero. I love him as a friend.
Carla:
Oluadah bought his freedom by buying and selling goods. He was also hardworking, honest and persistent. These are the reasons he was able to gain his freedom when he was 21 years old.
Mercedes:
Olaudah Euiano was smart and honest and his masters liked him so he bought his freedom. I liked this book a lot because I learned a lot about slaveery.

The Kidnapped Prince.......2007-05-26

"The Kidnapped Prince" is about Olaudah Equiano, an African prince who was kidnapped into slavery in 1755. Equiano was caring, honest and brave, and that is why I admire him a lot. These qualities helped him become a free man.

What I learned from his story is to be more brave, more honest and more caring. These things could help me have a better life. I recommend this book to people because I want people to read it. It is a good story.
Leo, 5th grade.

Kidnapped Prince : The Life of Olaudah Equiano, .......2006-05-09

The Kidnapped Prince is a great book for people of all ages. The story about Olaudah Equiano is amazing; there were so many difficulties and so many adventures he faced. There were some sad moments and funny moments. For instance, when Olaudah and his sister got separated, I felt sad because I knew they wouldn't see each other again. This story is also educational. I learned how horrible slavery was.
-Reviewed by JR

The Kidnapped Prince : The Life of Olaudah Equiano.......2001-03-08

As a parent doing research about a slave ship called the Henrietta Marie, I discovered the book The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano. I was very moved by this book as well as my eight-year-old daughter. Olaudah Equiano expressed his view of slavery and the very essence of life as a slave very eloquently in his book. His constant eternal struggles to stay true to his self and survive as a slave make me applaud him with all my heart. The message Olaudah Equiano reinforces in his book, which will never grow old. "Education is the key to a successful life". Which is a meaningful message for today's African American children. Nevertheless, to achieve freedom before the age of 25 truly define him as a Prince and a leader. Ann Cameron did a supreme job with the translation of old English to Modern English. I highly recommend this book for all ages.

The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudah Equiano (Norton Critical Editions)

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Teachers beware--poorly proofread edition!
Interesting indeed, an amazing account of an unusual life

The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudah Equiano (Norton Critical Editions)
Olaudah Equiano
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393974944

Book Description

Olaudiah Equiano's 1789 narrative tells the remarkable story of his childhood in Africa, his kidnapping and subsequent years as a slave and seaman, and his eventual road to freedom in the Caribbean and in England. The text reprinted here is that of the 1789 first edition. It is accompanied by explanatory annotations, textual notes, and a map of Equiano's travels. "Contexts" provides essential related public writings on the work by James Tobin, Gustavus Vassa (Olaudiah Equiano), and Samuel Jackson Pratt; general and historical background by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Eav Beatrice Dykes, Wylie Sypher, Charles H. Nichols, Nathan I. Huggins, and David Dabydeen; related travel and scientific literature by Anthony Benezet, John Matthews, and John Mitchell; eighteenth-century works by African authors James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, John Marrant, and Quobna Ottabah Cugoano; and English debates about the slave trade by Thomas Clarkson, John Wesley, and William Wilberforce, as well as antislavery verse by Thomas Day and John Bicknell. "Criticism" includes six contemporary reviews of The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudiah Equiano. Nine modern essays are contributed by Paul Edwards, Charles T. Davis, Houston A. Baker, Jr., Angelo Costanzo, Catherine Obianju Acholonu, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Geraldine Murphy, Adam Potkay, and Robert J. Allison. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

Customer Reviews:

Teachers beware--poorly proofread edition!.......2005-04-13

This review is neither of Equiano's text itself, nor of the editorial material (both are excellent for teaching). When I ordered this text for my class, I was dismayed to discover numerous proofreading errors which generated some confusion among students. These tend not to be mispellings, but much worse: substitutions of one word for another, or omissions of important words, as though the whole text had only been run through a spell-checker. Some of these are embarrassing (Equiano's report of "the mortifying circumference of not daring to eat with the free-born children" [33-34]) and others more serious (the omitted word in the crucial sentence "I own offer here the history of neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant" in the first paragraph). There is probably one major error for every page of this text. I don't think this has to do with fidelity to the London first edition of 1789, although I haven't checked. The errors seem to have been introduced at Norton. So, sadly, despite Werner Sollors's excellent introduction and the useful maps prefacing the text, I can't recommend this book until Norton gets its act together. Use the texts in either Henry Louis Gates's "Pioneers of the Black Atlantic" or Vincent Carretta's "Unchained Voices" instead--the notes to the latter make it the teaching edition of choice.

Interesting indeed, an amazing account of an unusual life.......2002-07-16

"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudiah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, written by Himself" is the story of an African man, Olaudiah Equiano (slave name: Gustavus Vassa) who was (evidently) born in 1745 in what is now Nigeria. He was captured by African slave traders, taken to the Atlantic coast, and sold into the slave trade. He was taken to the Caribbean, then Virginia, and eventually Europe. He served a ship's captain and sailed the Mediterranean and on a voyage to explore the North Pole (Greenland). He obtained his freedom and became an author and early anti-slavery activist. The publication of this book made him the best-selling black African author ever (up to that time). This book became a prototype of the "up-from-slavery" autobiography (typified by Frederick Douglass) and is a classic among Atlantic slave narratives.

The book is autobiographical and arranged chronologically, the author detailing events of his African childhood and his years as a slave and eventual self-emancipation. One notable thing about the book is the extent to which it is a travelogue: Equiano clearly enjoys telling travel tales more than decrying the horrors of slavery. His depictions of being a "stranger in a strange land" (e.g., the first time he encounters a clock, a painted portrait, books) are memorable.

The Norton edition is filled with related texts pertaining to Equiano and his times: articles and excerts by other writers about Africa, slavery, abolition, Equiano's birthplace, his literary influences; a useful map; a diagram of a sailing ship, etc. A good choice among several editions of Equiano's book.

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The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written By Himself
Olaudah Equiano
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

ASIN: 1419167499

Book Description

In May 1769, soon after our return from Turkey, our ship made a delightful voyage to Oporto in Portugal, where we arrived at the time of the carnival. On our arrival, there were sent on board to us thirty-six articles to observe, with very heavy penalties if we should break any of them; and none of us even dared to go on board any other vessel or on shore till the Inquisition had sent on board and searched for every thing illegal, especially bibles. Such as were produced, and certain other things, were sent on shore till the ships were going away; and any person in whose custody a bible was found concealed was to be imprisoned and flogged.

An African's Life: The Life and Times of Olaudah Equiano, 1745-1797 (The Black Atlantic Series)

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An African's Life: The Life and Times of Olaudah Equiano, 1745-1797 (The Black Atlantic Series)
James Walvin
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 082644704X

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Gustavus Vassa, The African [EasyRead Edition]

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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Gustavus Vassa, The African [EasyRead Edition]
Olaudah Equiano
Manufacturer: ReadHowYouWant.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1425034209
Release Date: 2006-11-01

Product Description

An 18-century best-seller, it is a magnificent revolutionary abolitionist autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and a treatise on religion, politics and economics written by a former native African slave.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: or, Gustavus Vassa, the African (Modern Library Classics)

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ok book
Beauty from Ashes

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: or, Gustavus Vassa, the African (Modern Library Classics)
Olaudah Equiano
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375761152
Release Date: 2004-05-11

Book Description

Edited and with Notes by Shelly Eversley
Introduction by Robert Reid-Pharr

In this truly astonishing eighteenth-century memoir, Olaudah Equiano recounts his remarkable life story, which begins when he is kidnapped in Africa as a boy and sold into slavery and culminates when he has achieved renown as a British antislavery advocate. The narrative “is a strikingly beautiful monument to the startling combination of skill, cunning, and plain good luck that allowed him to win his freedom, write his story, and gain international prominence,” writes Robert Reid-Pharr in his Introduction. “He alerts us to the very concerns that trouble modern intellectuals, black, white, and otherwise, on both sides of the Atlantic.”

The text of this Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the definitive ninth edition of 1794, reflecting the author’s final changes to his masterwork.

Customer Reviews:

ok book.......2007-10-07

Not much to say. Sometimes fascinating, often times tedious and annoying... don't just read it for readings sake. Vassa... or is it Equiano will surprise you in the end.

And he might not even be the true author!

Beauty from Ashes.......2005-09-13

Of all the firsthand accounts known to us as "slave narratives," Vassa's description is unique in many ways. To begin with, he takes his readers all the way back to his African roots, shedding historically-confirmed light on almost lost ancient traditions. His discussion of the harrowing and epically sad capture and separation of he and his sister are among the most moving in this genre.

He then describes the despicable, inhumane conditions in the holds of the slave ships with a "you-are-there" writing style. Again, confirmed by other sources, these are some of the most often quoted accounts in historical texts. In this same chronological phase, Vassa also depicts the shared empathy among the enslave Africans, helping us to see how they collaborated to survive.

His ongoing narrative offers one of the more balanced looks at slavery. Vassa clearly tells the horrors of this evil system and the people responsible for it. At the same time, he often shares accounts of Europeans and White Americans who befriended him. In fact, his positive statements about non-Africans lend further credence to his critique of the many evils of slavery.

His narrative also contains unique elements in his descriptions of his path toward freedom and his life as a freeman. We learn that in his era, for a man of his race, it was barely more tolerable to be free, given the hatred that he still endured.

Though some reviewers tend to minimize or criticize it, his conversion narrative is classic. In fact, it may well have been the standard from which later testimonies were crafted about how "God struck me dead." Perhaps the evangelical nature of his conversion turns off some. However, if we are to engage Vassa in his other accounts, we must engage him here. Further, coming as it did later in his life, it is easy to see how his account of his entire life is entirely shaped by his conversion experience. Clearly, Vassa sees even the evils that he has suffered as part of a larger plan. In doing so he never suggests that God condones the evils of slavery. Rather, he indicates that God created beauty from ashes.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," and of "Soul Physicians" and "Spiritual Friends."

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Gustavus Vassa, The African [EasyRead Large Edition]

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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Gustavus Vassa, The African [EasyRead Large Edition]
Olaudah Equiano
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ASIN: 1425045243
Release Date: 2006-11-01

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The Classic Slave Narratives: The Life of Olaudah Equiano / The History of Mary Prince / Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

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A Splendid Compilation
To The Last Reviewer
look
A quartet of remarkable human testaments
A great book that has provides a timeline of slavery.

The Classic Slave Narratives: The Life of Olaudah Equiano / The History of Mary Prince / Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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ASIN: 0451627261

Book Description

By 1944, over six thousand ex-slaves had written moving stories of their captivity, providing a prolific testimony to the horrors of bondage and servitude. Noted scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. compiles four of the most important "slave narratives" in this seminal volume.

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A Splendid Compilation.......2007-06-25

Henry Louis Gates provides readers with an important contribution to the many first-hand accounts of enslavement. His scintillating introduction ties together the life and times of four African Americans who narrated their own story of slavery: Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Jacobs. The diversity chosen by Gates allows readers to gain a comprehensive perspective of the horrors of slavery: women/men, South/North, born in African/born in America. Readers desiring additional first-hand accounts are encouraged to consider compilations by Yetman of the slave interviews.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D. is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, and Soul Physicians.

To The Last Reviewer.......2004-06-30

You are a jackass. No one "sold us to the US". We were STOLEN and taken back. Who is to say what changes there would have been if we had not been. Africa might be a better place today.
I say BE THANKFUL for what you have, but don't be a self-righteous a$$hole about it.

Expand your mind and buy this book!

look.......2004-03-05

You speak of enslavement in the US--who sold you to the US???Never is THIS mentioned. In Africa today, people are dying in the thousands of AIDS. Could the African Americans of today not thank our forefathers for coming over and sacrificing for our legacy?? What are you thinking?? We have it made now, we are not in Africa with disease, pestilence, violence, and an anscetory that sold us to the US. Go ahead with your pitifullness--I am grateful that our own people sold us out. We are now successful, healthy, and for me--I am thankful to be here. Sometimes, things happen for a reason, no matter how bad things might be. Give thanks to your grand-parents, great grand parents and to the US for making your life so much better. Above all-----------THINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND don't lick wounds--they are long gone.

A quartet of remarkable human testaments.......2001-01-23

The practice of enslavement in the Americas is a phenomenon of staggering proportions. It is also one of the most thoroughly documented systems of human rights abuse in history. "The Classic Slave Narratives" brings together four powerful testaments of individuals who survived enslavement in the Americas. The book also contains an insightful introduction by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

As Gates notes in the introduction, it has been estimated that more than 6,000 ex-slaves left some form of written testament between 1703 and 1944--an amazing body of literature. "The Classic Slave Narratives" is thus just a tiny part of a vast genre. Specifically, this anthology contains "the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano," "The History of Mary Prince," "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."

Each of the four powerful texts offers an effective complement to the others in the collection. In other words, each narrative illuminates at least one unique and important aspect of the American slave experience. Olaudah Equiano, for example, tells what it was like for a native African to be enslaved and transported across the Atlantic in a slave ship. Prince illuminates the life of a slave woman on the Caribbean islands. Douglass, born to a slave mother and a white father, describes in detail his quest for literacy. And Jacobs offers an incisive window into the sexual pathology of the slaveowning society.

These four texts are both valuable historical documents and fascinating works of literature. Much American literature--autobiography, poetry, novels, essays, and other genres--demonstrates the influence of, or parallels to, these pivotal texts. "The Classic Slave Narratives" is a necessary text for those interested in United States and Caribbean history, in American literature, in literacy, or in human rights.

A great book that has provides a timeline of slavery........1999-01-08

This book contains first hand accounts acounts of slaves during there life in Africa and how it felt to be stuffed into a slave ship and go across the see for days and days to escape slaves to slavery as it was right before the Civil War.

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