Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-made Man [Hardcover]

An intriguing piece of detective work. ("The Washington Post")

Masterful . . . offers not only the definitive biography of Equiano but also a first-rate social history of the late eighteenth century. ("Publishers Weekly", starred review)

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

In this widely acclaimed 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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Vincent Carretta is professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is the editor of the Penguin Classics editions of the Complete Writings of Phillis Wheatley, Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, and Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery and Other Writings by Ottobah Cugoano. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.