The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself

by Olaudah Equiano

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613822418
Publisher:	Simon & Brown
Publication date:	01/24/2012
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.46(d)

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: Equiano’s Worlds

Olaudah Equiano and the Eighteenth-Century World

Equiano and the Antislavery Movement

African Identities in the New World

Equiano’s Narrative as an Abolitionist Tool

The Question of Equiano’s Origins

The Literary Context of Equiano’s Narrative

Equiano’s 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