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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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An exciting and often terrifying adventure story, as well as an important precursor to such famous nineteenth-century slave narratives as Frederick Douglass's autobiographies, Olaudah Equiano's Narrative recounts his kidnapping in Africa at the age of ten, his service as the slave of an officer in the British Navy, his ten years of labor on slave ships until he was able to purchase his freedom in 1766, and his life afterward as a leading and respected figure in the antislavery movement in England. A spirited autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and fulfillment, and a sophisticated treatise on religion, politics, and economics, The Interesting Narrative is a work of enduring literary and historical value. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Interesting life ..
For someone who have read something about Slave Trading, the life of Olaudah is a unique source of what was like to be a Slave in that period. The book published in 1789, tell a remarkable story of survival, a life of sufferings, humilliations, the struggle for getting his freedom, his fixation with England, the search for knowledge and spiritual salvation. Most of the book is interesting indeed but similar to a review made at the time, I agree that "the long account of his religious sentiments and conversion to methodism, is rather tiresome". We will never know whether Equiano came from Africa or not, but his account about the "middle passage" is by far the more touching.

Interesting Narrative and Other Writings
This book is indeed interesting and I enjoyed reading it. The second half is a little slower than the first half of the novel, but overall a very worthwhile read.

UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD WE LIVE IN TODAY
You will never truly understand the world you live in today until you have read this book.After reading, I now look at my fellows, businesses, governments all differently - I see what life really was like back then and how it relates to life now.You will need to look up a lot of words in the dictionary, and read a lot of footnotes - but this book really puts into perspective life on planet earth, why people do what they do, and most importantly the most in depth, honest and in depth look at the slave trade ever written.From the African jungle to the Carribean to England and the Americas!

Good Book
The book by Equiano is great, a good one to study.The editing could use some help.Notes that say, "not a seperate paragraph in the 1st edition" are not helpful.

This is a good edition of "The Interesting Narrative"
If I could recommend a particular edition of the "Interesting Narrative," it would be this one.I much preferred it to the one published by The Modern Library.This has far more explanatory and textual notes, and it includes many letters Equiano wrote.(Which the Modern Library edition does not do.) ... Read more

Product Description
Edited and with Notes by Shelly Eversley
Introduction by Robert Reid-Pharr

In this truly astonishing eighteenth-century memoir, Olaudah Equiano recounts his remarkable life story, which begins when he is kidnapped in Africa as a boy and sold into slavery and culminates when he has achieved renown as a British antislavery advocate. The narrative “is a strikingly beautiful monument to the startling combination of skill, cunning, and plain good luck that allowed him to win his freedom, write his story, and gain international prominence,” writes Robert Reid-Pharr in his Introduction. “He alerts us to the very concerns that trouble modern intellectuals, black, white, and otherwise, on both sides of the Atlantic.”

The text of this Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the definitive ninth edition of 1794, reflecting the author’s final changes to his masterwork. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Not my favorite editon
If I could recommend a particular edition of the "Interesting Narrative," it would be the Penguin Classics revised 2003 edition.I much preferred it to this one.The Penguin edition has far more explanatory and textual notes, and it includes many letters Equiano wrote.(Which the Modern Library edition does not do.)

Very enlightening.
Saw the wonderful movie Amazing Grace & this man was a part of the real history of that time & wanted to read more. Excellant transaction. Thanks

Thoroughly enjoyed it!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It does not speak as much about slavery as I thought and speaks a lot about ship life. There is a wonderful chapter on his faith. I recommend this book to those who desire to know about life during the late 1700's especially for a black man.

Somewhat interesting might be more accurate...
I can't help but think there's some bit of embellishing on the part of Equiano here, which calls the veracity of everything into question.

As a semi-fictional account of a freed slave at that point in history, it's an interesting book, I suppose.

There are probably more interesting and inspiring books related to Olaudah, Wilburforce, and the entire Abolitionist movement, although after reading this and a sub-average book on William Wilburforce, I lost steam on the topic.

Get yourself a DVD of Amazing Grace, accept it at face value, and don't slog through Equiano's work in a tedious exercise of cross-checking facts, that quite frankly makes you look terribly pedantic, fella.

Beauty from Ashes
Of all the firsthand accounts known to us as "slave narratives," Vassa's description is unique in many ways. To begin with, he takes his readers all the way back to his African roots, shedding historically-confirmed light on almost lost ancient traditions. His discussion of the harrowing and epically sad capture and separation of he and his sister are among the most moving in this genre.

He then describes the despicable, inhumane conditions in the holds of the slave ships with a "you-are-there" writing style. Again, confirmed by other sources, these are some of the most often quoted accounts in historical texts. In this same chronological phase, Vassa also depicts the shared empathy among the enslave Africans, helping us to see how they collaborated to survive.

His ongoing narrative offers one of the more balanced looks at slavery. Vassa clearly tells the horrors of this evil system and the people responsible for it. At the same time, he often shares accounts of Europeans and White Americans who befriended him. In fact, his positive statements about non-Africans lend further credence to his critique of the many evils of slavery.

His narrative also contains unique elements in his descriptions of his path toward freedom and his life as a freeman. We learn that in his era, for a man of his race, it was barely more tolerable to be free, given the hatred that he still endured.

Though some reviewers tend to minimize or criticize it, his conversion narrative is classic. In fact, it may well have been the standard from which later testimonies were crafted about how "God struck me dead." Perhaps the evangelical nature of his conversion turns off some. However, if we are to engage Vassa in his other accounts, we must engage him here. Further, coming as it did later in his life, it is easy to see how his account of his entire life is entirely shaped by his conversion experience. Clearly, Vassa sees even the evils that he has suffered as part of a larger plan. In doing so he never suggests that God condones the evils of slavery. Rather, he indicates that God created beauty from ashes.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," and of "Soul Physicians" and "Spiritual Friends."
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Intriguing Read
"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself" is quite an extraordinary story. Equiano was just at age eleven when he was captured as a slave, then further along his lifetime he rose up and worked his way up to obtain his own freedom. Fascinating story in a good, lightweight paperback edition. A very short and easy read. Recommended for anyone who has an interest in 18th Century history.

Response to Robert Allison
The 1772 publication date of Gronniosaw's _Narrative_ seems to have been recently established by Vincent Carretta in _Unchained Voices: An Anthology of Black Authors in the English-Speaking World of the 18th Century_(Kentucky, 1996), with the evidence offered on pp. 53-54. The post-1791editions in which Equiano understandably deletes the wording "My handis ever free--if any female Debonair wishes to obtain it" after hisApril 7, 1792 marriage to Susanna Cullen are the 5th (Edinburgh, 1792), the6th & 7th (both London, 1793), the 8th (Norwich, 1794), and the 9th andlast (London, 1794). My source for this information is Vincent Carretta'sauthoritative Penguin edition of Equiano's _Interesting Narrative_ (1995),pp. 297-297, note 633. A reader from Virginia

caveat emptor
Prospective buyers of Mr. Allison's edition of Equiano's autobiography should be advised that although Mr. Allison says that his "edition follows the first American printing . . . (New York, 1791)" and that"the only significant changes . . . are the insertion of paragraphbreaks and notes to the text," Mr. Allison does not warn the readerthat he's silently combined parts of various editions of the autobiographyto form a book Equiano himself never published. For example, if you comparethe next-to-the-last paragraph (p. 195), in which Equiano mentions hismarriage, to the passage on page 187, where he says his hand is free, youmight get the impression that he's saying he's available for adultery orbigamy. But the fault lies not in Equiano, who changed the earlier passageafter he added the paragraph about his marriage in 1792. What Mr. Allisongives us is his text, not Equiano's. And he might have mentioned that theNew York edition was published without Equiano's knowledge or permission.Readers should also not assume that all "facts" given are true.For example, on page 21, Gronniosaw's book was published in 1772 (not1770), Marrant's in 1785 (not 1790), and Equiano died on 31 March 1797 (notin April). ... Read more

Product Description
He was born, he tells us in his Interesting Narrative of his life, in Essaka, a small village in what is today eastern Nigeria that was ruled by the powerful eighteenth century King of Benin. His parents prophetically named him Olaudah Equiano, to signify his expected role as a leader?as one favored and who spoke with a loud voice. They dressed him after the tradition of their greatest warriors. Through age ten or eleven he was rooted in the cultural, spiritual, economic, religious and political customs of this charming fruitful vail, which he describes as ?a nation of dancers, musicians, and poets.' ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Great Insight Into the Slave Trade
This is a book that should be read by everyone.The author, who was born in the 18th century, tells of his life as both a free and an enslaved African.The publisher should have added some history as an appendix, but information about Equiano can be found on the Internet. Equiano's narrative brings to life the horrendous atrocities inflicted on slaves.

pretty good
I'm a historian, who got this book late, but really enjoyed it. I would suggest this book to get a little insight to the culture during the slave trade.

Somebody at Amazon Has a Sense of Humor!
I was doing a search for travel guides to the Dominican Republic, on the hunch that I might like to visit there next winter, and amazon came up with the "Life of Olaudah Equiano" as a travel recommendation. if you've read Equiano's autobiography, you'll realize just how knee-slapping funny that is. If you haven't, you should know that Equiano was a remarkable, brilliant African, kidnapped and enslaved, befriended but sold, escaped, recaptured, trusted, mistreated, and eventually a major role-player in the abolition crusade in England in the 18th Century. He figures prominently in the great historical account of English abolitionism -- "Bury the Chains" by Adam Hochschild -- along with Wilberforce and Clarkson and others whose epic courage and humanity should be celebrated forever.

Equiano's own life ought to be made into a movie; few people in history have ever been as resourceful, and few have needed to be. It was a matter of amazement to Englishmen (and Americans doubly so) that an African-born slave could write so fluently and so perspicaciously. In fact, once you get used to the 18th C syntax, his life story is on a par with the best nautical adventure writers. And Equiano was ten times the MAN that any scion of plantation Dixie was!

fantastic
I enjoy the classics. This is a great read and a must for any classical reader. I sometimes wonder if the author took liberty in telling his life story because some of his life experiences seem so unbelievable. My young sons liked listening to my recount of the book.

Equiano's Life...
"The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano" has always been spoken of in literature courses but to finally read his book gave me good insight into who this man really was. To understand the language used in the 18th century and how that language helped to push the abolitionists into action is key within the study of slavery during this time. If you have never read a narrative by an African who was stolen into slavery and eventually became a self made man, this is the book for you. ... Read more

Product Description
Olaudiah Equiano's 1789 narrative tells the remarkable story of his childhood in Africa, his kidnapping and subsequent years as a slave and seaman, and his eventual road to freedom in the Caribbean and in England. The text reprinted here is that of the 1789 first edition. It is accompanied by explanatory annotations, textual notes, and a map of Equiano's travels. "Contexts" provides essential related public writings on the work by James Tobin, Gustavus Vassa (Olaudiah Equiano), and Samuel Jackson Pratt; general and historical background by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Eav Beatrice Dykes, Wylie Sypher, Charles H. Nichols, Nathan I. Huggins, and David Dabydeen; related travel and scientific literature by Anthony Benezet, John Matthews, and John Mitchell; eighteenth-century works by African authors James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, John Marrant, and Quobna Ottabah Cugoano; and English debates about the slave trade by Thomas Clarkson, John Wesley, and William Wilberforce, as well as antislavery verse by Thomas Day and John Bicknell. "Criticism" includes six contemporary reviews of The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudiah Equiano. Nine modern essays are contributed by Paul Edwards, Charles T. Davis, Houston A. Baker, Jr., Angelo Costanzo, Catherine Obianju Acholonu, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Geraldine Murphy, Adam Potkay, and Robert J. Allison. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Teachers beware--poorly proofread edition!
This review is neither of Equiano's text itself, nor of the editorial material (both are excellent for teaching). When I ordered this text for my class, I was dismayed to discover numerous proofreading errors which generated some confusion among students. These tend not to be mispellings, but much worse: substitutions of one word for another, or omissions of important words, as though the whole text had only been run through a spell-checker. Some of these are embarrassing (Equiano's report of "the mortifying circumference of not daring to eat with the free-born children" [33-34]) and others more serious (the omitted word in the crucial sentence "I own offer here the history of neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant" in the first paragraph). There is probably one major error for every page of this text. I don't think this has to do with fidelity to the London first edition of 1789, although I haven't checked. The errors seem to have been introduced at Norton. So, sadly, despite Werner Sollors's excellent introduction and the useful maps prefacing the text, I can't recommend this book until Norton gets its act together. Use the texts in either Henry Louis Gates's "Pioneers of the Black Atlantic" or Vincent Carretta's "Unchained Voices" instead--the notes to the latter make it the teaching edition of choice.

Interesting indeed, an amazing account of an unusual life
"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudiah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, written by Himself" is the story of an African man, Olaudiah Equiano (slave name: Gustavus Vassa) who was (evidently) born in 1745 in what is now Nigeria. He was captured by African slave traders, taken to the Atlantic coast, and sold into the slave trade. He was taken to the Caribbean, then Virginia, and eventually Europe. He served a ship's captain and sailed the Mediterranean and on a voyage to explore the North Pole (Greenland). He obtained his freedom and became an author and early anti-slavery activist. The publication of this book made him the best-selling black African author ever (up to that time). This book became a prototype of the "up-from-slavery" autobiography (typified by Frederick Douglass) and is a classic among Atlantic slave narratives.

The book is autobiographical and arranged chronologically, the author detailing events of his African childhood and his years as a slave and eventual self-emancipation. One notable thing about the book is the extent to which it is a travelogue: Equiano clearly enjoys telling travel tales more than decrying the horrors of slavery. His depictions of being a "stranger in a strange land" (e.g., the first time he encounters a clock, a painted portrait, books) are memorable.

The Norton edition is filled with related texts pertaining to Equiano and his times: articles and excerts by other writers about Africa, slavery, abolition, Equiano's birthplace, his literary influences; a useful map; a diagram of a sailing ship, etc. A good choice among several editions of Equiano's book. ... Read more

Product Description
Formatted for the Kindle. Linked Contents.

CONTENTS
CHAP. I.
The author's account of his country, their manners and
customs, &c.

CHAP. II.
The author's birth and parentage — His being kidnapped
with his sister — Horrors of a slave ship

CHAP. III.
The author is carried to Virginia — Arrives in England — His
wonder at a fall of snow

CHAP. IV.
A particular account of the celebrated engagement
between Admiral Boscawen and Monsieur Le Clue

CHAP. V.
Various interesting instances of oppression, cruelty, and
extortion

CHAP. VI.
Favourable change in the author's situation — He
commences merchant with threepence

VOLUME II

CHAP. VII.
The author's disgust at the West Indies — Forms
schemes to obtain his freedom

CHAP. VIII.
Three remarkable dreams — The author is shipwrecked
on the Bahama-bank

CHAP. IX
The author arrives at Martinico — Meets with new
difficulties, and sails for England

CHAP. X.
Some account of the manner of the author's conversion to
the faith of Jesus Christ

CHAP. XI.
Picking up eleven miserable men at sea in returning to
England

CHAP. XII.
Different transactions of the author's life — Petition to the
Queen — Conclusion

Excerpt:
To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

Permit me, with the greatest deference and respect, to lay at your feet the following genuine Narrative; the chief design of which is to excite in your august assemblies a sense of compassion for the miseries which the Slave-Trade has entailed on my unfortunate countrymen. By the horrors of that trade was I first torn away from all the tender connexions that were naturally dear to my heart; but these, through the mysterious ways of Providence, I ought to regard as infinitely more than compensated by the introduction I have thence obtained to the knowledge of the Christian religion, and of a nation which, by its liberal sentiments, its humanity, the glorious freedom of its government, and its proficiency in arts and sciences, has exalted the dignity of human nature.

I am sensible I ought to entreat your pardon for addressing to you a work so wholly devoid of literary merit; but, as the production of an unlettered African, who is actuated by the hope of becoming an instrument towards the relief of his suffering countrymen, I trust that such a man, pleading in such a cause, will be acquitted of boldness and presumption.

May the God of heaven inspire your hearts with peculiar benevolence on that important day when the question of Abolition is to be discussed, when thousands, in consequence of your Determination, are to look for Happiness or Misery!

I am,
My Lords and Gentlemen,
Your most obedient,
And devoted humble servant,
Olaudah Equiano,
or
Gustavus Vassa.

Union-Street, Mary-le-bone,
March 24, 1789.

... Read more

Product Description
Olaudah Equiano’s capture by slave-traders at the age of ten took him from life in what is now Eastern Nigeria and thrust him on a fateful journey that would submerge him in an incomprehensible world. He emerged a gifted writer and has provided insights into centuries of slave trading and why the relationship between black and white seems always in favor of white. First published in 1789, Equiano’s engaging narrative, written in English, describes his life before and after his capture—looking forward to recognition as a descendant of a chief; working on slave ships; traveling to the southern states of America, the West Indies, Europe, and the Arctic; and fighting a war. He eventually grew to be an extremely confident man who, even in the worst slavery imaginable, never lost his sense of purpose or his humanity. After buying his freedom, he was an ardent supporter of abolishing slavery. Written with a sense of literary history, Equiano’s account corrects wrong impressions about Africa and explores what it is like for an African to find himself suddenly alien in a world that considers Africans as not quite human. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

History of the others
The African slave trade is one of the great stains of human history.Much has been written about it by European - white authors, though unfortunately, there are very few recollections of the slave trade by actual slaves.This book is one of those works.The author, Olaudah Equiano, was born in Nigeria and captured as a child and sold of to slavery in the New World.He eventually accummulated enough money to free and educate himself, and make his way thru the world as a free man. This book is his story, told by himself.He retells his kidnapping, his trip from Africa to N. America, his service to different masters, how he bought his own freedom, and then his life as a free man.He retells both the punishments he endured, the work he had to do, and the opportunities denied to him while he was a slave.Overall, a good book to read about the life of a slave.

Well written with attention toward the truth, not opinion.
I'm not sure if the person below read the book.Equiano was 11 when he was enslaved.

A must read for anyone interested in the horror of slavery
An amazing story of an amazing man. Olaudah Equiano tells the story of his life with such clarity and recollection it is hard to put this book down. A slave, who at the age of 7, was kidnapped from his village in Africa and subsequently enslaved for 11 years until which time he could buy his freedom. His life was filled with both horror and wonder. He witnessed great events and horrific injustices. He tells these tales with clarity and an unusual objectiveness. A boy, who at age 7, did not read or write or even know of the white man. Olaudah grew to learn and have great command of the language in which he would retell his tales. This is not only an impressive work, it is more so coming from a former slave. It is a must read for everyone interested in the struggle for life that these people endured for over two centuries. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself was the first work that began the nineteenth-century genre of slave narrative autobiographies. Written and published by Equiano, a former slave, it became a prototype for those that followed.

Kidnapped in Africa as a child, Equiano was transported to the Caribbean and then to Virginia, bought by a Quaker shipowner, and placed in service at sea. Aboard various American and British ships, he sailed throughout the world, and he continued to do so after having purchased his freedom in 1766. Once settled in London, he fought tirelessly to end slavery, and his Interesting Narrative was placed on members’ desks in the Houses of Parliament.

This edition of The Interesting Narrative places the text in the center of abolitionist activity in the late eighteenth century. Equiano knew many of the leading abolitionist figures of his time, and this edition allows readers to trace the common ideas and cross-influences in the works of the political and literary figures who fought for the end of slavery in America and England. The original 1789 text of the narrative has been used for the Broadview edition with Equiano’s subsequent emendations included in the appendices. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"A particular favorite of Heaven"
Olaudah Equiano's book, published in 1789, is the first instance of a slave narrative combined with a spiritual autobiography. It was immensely influential in ending the slave trade in England and America, which finally happened a decade after his death.

Equiano's life story is astonishing, inspiring, often charming - and he tells it well. He has so many close calls with death that he seems quite justified in calling himself "a particular favorite of Heaven."

His homeland in West Africa sounds a bit like Eden. However, in this paradise, the natives make slaves of each other when either side loses a skirmish. Equiano was kidnapped by Africans when he was eleven years old, and so began his life of bondage.

Equiano is sold repeatedly, both by African and European masters. Thanks to his thirst for knowledge, he develops an amazing array of skills. He is in turn a clerk, a seaman, a merchant and a hairdresser, and acquires along the way a perfect command of English and a fine prose style. An accomplished entrepreneur, he eventually buys his own freedom.

In his travels around the world, as a valued slave and then a freedman, Equiano observes the shocking abuses experienced by less fortunate slaves, who are tortured, raped and murdered at will by their masters.

Equiano's life is so eventful that you can read it purely as an adventure story. More seriously, it's a reminder of a terrible chapter in human history. But the ex-slave himself sees the hand of God in everything. His spiritual quest intensifies with every misadventure that befalls him.

I found this book quite riveting, particularly the naval battles and shipwreck scenes! And I was grateful for the introduction, which puts this account into historical context and touches on scholarly debates about Equiano's life. Once again, Broadview has done a great job of presenting and explicating a classic. ... Read more

Product Description
Autobiographical work from the eighteenth century merchant seaman. His was the first influential slave autobiography. It exceeded all expectations for the quality of its imagery and description as a literary style, as well as its profoundly shaming narrative towards those who had not joined the cause of slavery abolition. ... Read more

Product Description
A controversial look at the most renowned person of African descent in the eighteenth century

In this widely aclaimed biography, historian Vincent Carretta gives us the authoritative portrait ofOlaudah 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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Not bad
The book I got had some highlights in pink, and it was missing the book Jacket, but other than that it was in good condition. Functional.

Olaudah Equiano aka 'Gustavus Vassa, the African' - a possible fraud?
Not being able now to afford as many books as I would want, I have taken to borrowing from my local library at Soham in Cambridgeshire and, on my last visit there, I came across what has turned out to be one of the most interesting, intriguing and thought-provoking tomes that I have ever read. I picked it up because I had read elsewhere of a Soham link with Olaudah Equiano, aka 'Gustavus Vassa, the African.' What I had read was that Equiano was married to a local white lady at St. Andrew's Church, Soham, in 1792, but I knew little else.

Professor Vincent Carretta, of the University of Maryland, has written what is clearly the definitive biography of Olaudah Equiano, hitherto supposed to have been born in 1745 in what is now Nigeria and transported, as a slave and via 'the Middle Passage,' to the West Indies, along with his subsequent adventures in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East until he was eventually regarded as a 'gentleman' - even if only by himself - and a leading anti-slave-trade campaigner in late-eighteenth-century London.

The main material for the biography is Equiano's autobiography, 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself' (London, 1789), and Carretta examines the latter work, seemingly line-by-line and with forensic skill, comparing it with other records and newly-discovered information that is extremely relevant to the truth or otherwise of Equiano's assertions.

Not to put to fine a point on it, it now appears more than possible that the narrative of Equiano's early life in Africa is either the product of a very fertile imagination or the result of fraudulent intent. Moreover, if the early life in Africa is fictitious, how much reliability can one place upon his account of his travails during 'the Middle Passage'? And another thing has often puzzled me. Assuming that the slave traders' object was to get as many live slaves from Africa to the other side of the Atlantic, how come we hear so much of the suffering and deaths of the slaves? I suspect that it is because opinion was based - and is still based - on the publication in 1788 of a print purporting to be of the layout of the British slave ship 'Brookes,' showing the slaves packed as sardines. Quite frankly, I don't believe what I have seen reproduced again in this book: it's too far-fetched. My guess is that the passage was extremely hazardous for both the white crews and the black passengers and it appears that privations and losses were proportionate.

Carretta also draws attention to the possibility - nay, the likelihood - that Equiano's 'narrative' could have included plagiarism from other authors and also could have been produced in collusion with, or the help of, other contemporary campaigners. Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce are the best known of the anti-slave trade pantheon of heroes, but it was, of course, in their interest that a well-known black person's story should have been published when they were at their busiest. And so it transpired.

Another thought has also been provoked by this excellent book. I have read that the anti-slave-trade campaigners, Equiano included, made much of the slogan shown on the seal of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade as designed for Josiah Wedgwood, one of their number, in 1787, which bears the legend, "Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" I can well understand that the effect of this on Englishmen and others who believed then that they were all descendants of Adam and Eve would have been both convincing and transformative as well as destructive to those who opined that Africans were in some respects inferior to Europeans and did not merit the same freedoms as the latter. Today, of course, only fundamentalists or ignoramuses still believe our respective peoples' biblical birth and more are content with Darwin's theory of evolution. If Darwin was right - and I believe that he was - then African peoples may have evolved differently or with less or greater speed than did white people. (I was much amused by the idea, supposedly espoused by Equiano, that we all descend from a 'tawny' coloured people and that those in more Northern parts became whiter due to the colder climate whilst those to the South became blacker for the same reason).

As soon as I opened this book, I knew that its contents were explosive and I recommend it most highly to readers, not because I want to see an explosion, but because I believe that it contains enough fresh information and fresh interpretation to ensure a substantial re-evaluation of accepted events and opinions. Professor Carretta has done us all a great service by his researches and his top-rate writings.

One of the Best Known Africans Explained
A slave, slave trader, and then an abolitionist, Equiano was the best known African in the 18th Century.

Scholarly history at its best
An absorbing and beautifully written biography by possibly the leading expert on Equiano today.Caretta's revelation that Equiano may have been born in South Carolina rather than Africa only serves to make him an even more intriguing figure for those who are familiar with his autobiography.This is scholarly history at its best.

Repentant previous reviewer.
This is indeed an excellent, full and fascinating biography with much new information about Equiano.I regret having given it only a single star previously because of what I see as its one error of judgment, in questioning Equiano's claim to an African birth and childhood.I do think that the authenticity of Equiano's autobiography is what makes it and his life of interest to a general public.It would be a pity for readers to pass up such a vital 18th century classic on the assumption that it's fraudulent. ... Read more

Product Description
The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, a prominent African in late 18th-century Britain, is quoted, anthologized and interpreted in dozens of books and articles. More than any single contemporary, Equiano speaks for the fate of millions of Africans in the era of the transatlantic slave trade. This study attempts to create a rounded portrait of the man behind the literary image, and to study Equiano in the context of Atlantic slavery. ... Read more

Product Description
This book skillfully examines the many literary devices utilized by the first black writers as they related their slave experiences and fashioned for their own use such literary techniques as the jeremiad sermonic form, the trustworthy omniscient narrator, the picaresque character, the Biblical typological hero, the strong speaking voice, and the quest for physical and spiritual freedoms. The primary object of study is Olaudah Equiano's brilliant autobiography, which served as a prototype for later slave narratives, and thus provided a background for the development of a literary pattern followed by succeeding generations of American black writers. The autobiographical form as used by the eighteenth-century black writers is explored as a reflection of black perceptions of Western culture, and their attempt to enter the literary world. ... Read more