17385: Peabody: Re: Wanted: Book Recommendation for the Haitian Revolution (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Sue Peabody <peabody@vancouver.wsu.edu>

PS, Here is the message I just posted on H-Atlantic in response to the
query. I'd be interested to see what your subscribers think.

Sue

--------------

Sherri,

My sense is that C.L.R. James is still probably your best bet if what you
want is a narrative of the events. There are other, more scholarly
accounts that have come out in recent years, including those by
David Geggus, Carolyn Fick, some French language accounts, and some edited
collections, but no one tells the story quite like James.

If, on the other hand, you want to treat the events of the revolution in a
lecture or shorter essay format (e.g. Geggus' 1989 overview in _The Modern
Carribean_, ed. Franklin Knight & Colin Palmer, reprinted in his 2002
_Haitian Revolutionary Studies_ or Doris Kadish's succinct "Introduction"
to _Slavery in the Caribbean Francophone World_ (U. Georgia 2000), and
spend more time on interpretations, you might look at the recent
collection, _The Impact of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World_
(e.d Geggus), which will broaden the perspective to the larger Atlantic.

Some time ago I heard that Bedford Books was to be publishing a collection
of primary documents on the Haitian Revolution, edited by Laurent Dubois
and John Garrigus. This would certainly be a welcome teaching tool.

Finally, the novels by Madison Smartt Bell (All Souls Rising,
Master of the Crossroads) provide an excellent -- if grisly --
fictionalized entree to the world of the Haitian Revolution. I'm
not sure I'd use them in a Western Civ class (even an Honors section), but
they provide really haunting portraits of some of the key players.

With the fast-approaching celebration of Haiti's bicentennial (the
independent republic was declared on January 1, 1804), you are likely to
see quite a bit of additional material in the popular and scholarly press
in the next year.

Best of luck,

Sue Peabody

--
Sue Peabody
Assoc. Prof. of History
Director, Honors Program
Washington State University Vancouver
Multimedia Center 202D
14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave.
Vancouver, WA 98686
tel: 360/546-9647
fax: 360/546-9036
peabody@vancouver.wsu.edu
www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/peabody.htm