Synopses & Reviews
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.
About the Author
ROBERT J. ALLISON (Ph.D., Harvard University) is associate professor of history and chair of the department at Suffolk University, where he teaches U.S. and world history and the history of Boston. He is the author of A Short History of Boston (2004) and The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World 1776-1815 (2000). He has edited two volumes of twentieth-century American political and social history: History In Dispute: The Pursuit of Progress, 1900-1945 and The Pursuit of Liberty, 1945-2000 (2000). He has also edited several volumes in the award-winning American Eras series, including The Revolutionary Era, 1754-1783 (1998) and The Development of a Nation, 1783-1815 (1997). Allison is an elected life member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He is currently working on a biography of the American naval hero Stephen Decatur.
Table of Contents
Foreword Preface LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
PART ONE
Introduction: Equianos Worlds
Olaudah Equiano and the Eighteenth-Century World
Equiano and the Antislavery Movement
African Identities in the New World
Equianos Narrative as an Abolitionist Tool
The Question of Equianos Origins
The Literary Context of Equianos Narrative
Equianos Legacy
PART TWO
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself
Dedication
Volume I
Volume II
PART THREE
Related Documents
Olaudah Equiano, Letter to James Tobin, January 28, 1788
Olaudah Equiano, Letter to the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, February 7, 1789
Olaudah Equiano, Letter to Thomas Hardy, May 28, 1792
William Blake, Illustrations for Narrative, of a Five Years Expedition . . . by John G. Stedman, 1796
APPENDIXES
An Equiano Chronology
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Index