Avengers of the New World

The first and only successful slave revolution in the Americas began in 1791 when brutally exploited slaves rose up against their masters on Saint-Domingue. Dubois weaves the stories of slaves, free people of African descent, wealthy whites, and French administrators into an unforgettable tale of insurrection, war, heroism, and victory.

What Laurent Dubois has achieved is a synthesis of the most current research in a strikingly accessible and appealing presentation, be it to experts or to general readers unfamiliar with the subject. Avengers of the New World is more than likely to become the new standard work in English on one of the most under-reported events in the history of the Western Hemisphere. -- Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls Rising and Master of the Crossroads The course of the Haitian Revolution was as checkered as the storyline of an Italian opera. Laurent Dubois wisely and eloquently reduces that complexity to understandable proportions. He shows how the revolutionary leadership evolved over time, both defining its own objectives and winning its battles along the way. With care and good judgment, Dubois builds for us a compelling picture of the emergent consciousness of the slaves. His distinctive contribution is to bring to life one of the most significant events in modern political history, an event that has been deliberately misrepresented for the past two centuries. -- Sidney Mintz, author of Caribbean Transformations and Sweetness and Power By abolishing slavery and granting citizenship to all men, the Haitian Revolution fulfilled the ideals of the Age of Democratic Revolution in a way that France, the United States and other nations were not yet ready to accept. Dubois demonstrates the revolutionary determination of enslaved Caribbean- and African-born people and captures the voices of key actors including Toussaint Louverture, individual slaves, free people of color, rival black generals, and white women. This is a story that needs to be told in the engaging yet scholarly voice that Dubois achieves. -- John Garrigus, Professor of History, Jacksonville University Avengers of the New World is a luminous model for the history of revolution, for a 'people's' history of freedom, and, not least, for a history that is truly Atlantic in scope. At once original, deeply learned, and gracefully written, Dubois' achievement is worthy of its great lineage: that of C.L.R. James and Aime Cesaire." -- James C. Scott, author of Domination and the Arts of Resistance and Weapons of the Weak Brilliantly conceived, beautifully rendered, Laurent Dubois's narrative places the Haitian Revolution at the center of the Age of Revolutions-one of three that shook the world--challenging in the process the stubborn academic myopia that divides the history of Europe from its colonies, and whites from blacks. -- Thomas Holt, author of The Problem of Race in the 21st Century

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