Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man

by Vincent Carretta

Book Overview

A controversial look at the most renowned person of African descent in the eighteenth century In this widely aclaimed biography, historian Vincent Carretta gives us the authoritative portrait of Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797), the former slave whose 1789 autobiography quickly became a popular polemic against the slave trade and a literary classic. Sailor, entrepreneur, and adventurer, Equiano is revealed here as never before, thanks to archival research on an unprecedented scale--some of which even indicates that Equiano may have lied about his origins to advance the antibondage struggle with which he became famously identified. A masterpiece of scholarship and writerly poise, this book redefines an extraordinary man and the turbulent age that shaped him.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143038427
• ISBN13: 9780143038429
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher