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A review by rossbm
Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture by Sudhir Hazareesingh
2.0
(read as e-book)
What's it about?
It's a biography of Toussaint Louverture, a former slave and a leader of a rebellion in Haiti in the 1790s (then called Saint Domingue) that led to the abolishment of slavery in the French colony. Louverture rose to become the leader of the colony, trying to walk a line between autonomy and maintaining good relations with France. Napoleon ended up sending a large army to Saint Domingue reassert control. Louverture initially fought this invading army, but ended up coiming to terms. However, he was betrayed, captured and sent to France where he died in imprisonment.
The book is written in a very academic style. The prose is very readable, but fairly dense. There is a lot of focus on the "meaning" of Louverture actions, and his legacy (historiography?).
What did I think?
I found the book a bit of slog. I skimmed the last few chapters, which talked about r how Louverture legacy was interpreted, rather than anything Louverture actually did. I found the descriptions of Louverture's tactics and strategies to be very interesting. He combined diplomacy with knowledge of terrain and populace to defeat stronger adversaries. Louverture needed to use these tactics because he was often the underdog. You could see this in how he tried to maintain ties with France while pushing for a constitution that guaranteed that slavery would not return.
I found the book to be fairly dry and boring though. While it was interesting to dive a bit into what Louverture's policies "meant" and his legacy, and I thought that there was too much of that. There wasn't enough details about his personal life or actions. It seems like there are not a lot of primary sources. It is clear that the book was well researched.
What's it about?
It's a biography of Toussaint Louverture, a former slave and a leader of a rebellion in Haiti in the 1790s (then called Saint Domingue) that led to the abolishment of slavery in the French colony. Louverture rose to become the leader of the colony, trying to walk a line between autonomy and maintaining good relations with France. Napoleon ended up sending a large army to Saint Domingue reassert control. Louverture initially fought this invading army, but ended up coiming to terms. However, he was betrayed, captured and sent to France where he died in imprisonment.
The book is written in a very academic style. The prose is very readable, but fairly dense. There is a lot of focus on the "meaning" of Louverture actions, and his legacy (historiography?).
What did I think?
I found the book a bit of slog. I skimmed the last few chapters, which talked about r how Louverture legacy was interpreted, rather than anything Louverture actually did. I found the descriptions of Louverture's tactics and strategies to be very interesting. He combined diplomacy with knowledge of terrain and populace to defeat stronger adversaries. Louverture needed to use these tactics because he was often the underdog. You could see this in how he tried to maintain ties with France while pushing for a constitution that guaranteed that slavery would not return.
I found the book to be fairly dry and boring though. While it was interesting to dive a bit into what Louverture's policies "meant" and his legacy, and I thought that there was too much of that. There wasn't enough details about his personal life or actions. It seems like there are not a lot of primary sources. It is clear that the book was well researched.