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Tax-exempt? Read an interview | Equiano, the African Biography of a Self-Made Man For Vincent Carretta, such disconnects between the public persona and actual life of Equiano only increase his importance as a window into a number of complex, overlapping worlds. Equiano was a sailor, adventurer, entrepreneur, and jack-of-all-trades. Carretta distills years of scholarly detective work on Equiano's life and writings into a richly textured portrait of the man whose many transformations took him from slave to slave trader to anti-slave-trade advocate, and from pagan to Christian. This is "life and times" history at its best. Throughout, Carretta relates The Interesting Narrative to the historical record on Equiano, as well as to the century's economic, political, and religious undercurrents. Carretta argues that Equiano may have fabricated his African roots and his survival of the Middle Passage not only to sell more copies of his book but also to help advance the movement against the slave trade. Equiano, the African will leave readers with a fuller appreciation of the man's achievements and a deeper understanding of race and slavery in the Atlantic world. Vincent Carretta, professor of English at the University of Maryland, is currently a senior fellow at Harvard University's W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. His books include scholarly editions of the works of Equiano and of Equiano's contemporaries Ignatius Sancho, Ottobah Cugoano, and Phillis Wheatley. October 2005 ISBN 0820325716 cloth • $32.95 464 pp. • 6 1/8x9 1/4 in. • 24 b&w photos • 8 maps"A remarkable man has been blessed with a superbly qualified biographer. Vincent Carretta knows more about Equiano than anyone alive, has carefully and respectfully edited his work, has boldly raised tantalizing questions about his origins, and has meticulously tracked down information about him that no one else has found. This book will be the authoritative source about Equiano's life for many years to come." —William L. Andrews, E. Maynard Adams Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"A bold, daring, and meticulously researched re-creation of the life and times of the founding father of both the African and the African American literary traditions. Carretta's superbly written biography-certain to generate considerable discussion and debate-will change how we conceive of the remarkable contributions of the most important black man in the eighteenth century. This is one of the most significant biographies published about a black author in a very long time." —Henry Louis Gates Jr., W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University"Provides a masterful, lively and scrupulously researched account that questions central parts of the ex-slaves narrative, but upholds his view of himself as a self-made man ... Carretta's exemplary study offers not only the definitive biography of Equiano but also a first-rate social history of the late 18th century in America and in England."-Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[A] historical work of surpassing importance."-Kirkus Reviews "This is a thoroughly rich, engrossing, and well-researched portrait of an exceptional man and the cause he championed."-Booklist (starred review) "Vassa remains a subject worthy of continued study and research .Carretta's biography is now the standard reference on the life and times of this "African" intellectual."-Journal of Southern History "Carretta has obviously done a great service in documenting the discrepancies in the record and in setting out his own doubts ... He has written a fascinating book ... Carretta paints a portrait of a proud, assertive man of stubborn intensity that is richer and more rounded than the hero of the Narrative ... Carretta had done some very skillful sleuthing and presents evidence that can be interpreted in different ways. Ultimately, readers will have to decide for themselves."-Robin Blackburn, The Nation"Carretta presents a wealth of engrossing and often new detail in a fully realized context of time and place ... Carretta brilliantly brings alive the vibrant, highly competitive expansionist world of the late eighteenth century: his readers experience the many locales and live the many challenging moments."-ForeWord Magazine "Through years of patient and tenacious research in neglected archives, Carretta has discovered not one but two documents indicating that Equiano was born in Carolina ... Carretta's biography, far from detracting from Equiano's greatness, calls attention to it. Apart from the doubt about Equiano's birth, Carretta has tracked down records proving that practically everything else he told about his life was factually correct. Carretta reveals a man almost unique in his travelling and experience of different cultures and landscapes ... Equiano's autobiography, Carretta suggests, is a monumental 18th-century text, a unique mixture of travel-writing, sea lore, sermon, economic tract and fiction. That the early chapters may have invented a life in Africa only adds to our appreciation of Equiano's imaginative depth and literary talent. Carretta has done great service to the study of the African diaspora, unearthing more documentation on Equiano than any previous scholar, even locating the gravestone of Equiano's daughter, Joanna, in Abney Park Cemetery, North London. He deserves applause, not resentment, for his indefatigable research."-The Guardian (London) "[A]n intriguing piece of detective work. [Carretta] reminds us that the 'Narrative' was produced by a self-made man before the example of Benjamin Franklin and that it had a major influence on the opposition to the slave trade ... Carretta reminds us that every autobiography is an act of re-creation and that a manumitted slave had a necessarily broad opportunity for redefinition ... [H]is biography of the era's most important African in the English-speaking world should delight readers."-Mary Frances Berry, Washington Post "Carretta, an exhaustive sleuth and careful scholar ... is also a master rhetorician and subtle reader of his audiences."-Virginia Quarterly Review "That [Equiano] was already a man who counted himself equal to all others-and was-Carretta shows in this rich engrossing book."-Booklist "Carretta's biography is the most substantial, sustained effort to date to account for the extraordinary life and achievements of Equiano . [This book is] 400 well-filled pages, and massively researched. The fact that it is so readable-and very often thrilling-reflects both the richness of Equiano's life and the quality of his biographer's writing. Carretta has an enviable ability to pack vast amounts of data and sharp insights into concise yet fluid and engaging accounts . Equiano, the African serves at one level as an academic text, and a major one. But its appeal and value stretch far wider than this. It is a fine achievement and it does Equiano proud."-The Sunday Independent (Johannesburg) "an excellent new biography ... [a] rich and wonderful book."- The New Yorker "Carretta carefully pieces together a richly contextualized account of Equiano's life that makes extensive use of Equiano's narrative voice and draws heavily from the memoir itself as well as from Equiano's other published and unpublished writings and from a wealth of documentary sources. It is a heroic task that for the most part yields a satisfying result. . . . Carretta has painstakingly recreated an extraordinary, self-made Atlantic creole in the context of his narrative and his larger eighteenth-century world."-American Historical Review "Carretta has rendered an invaluable service . A word of praise must be reserved for the University of Georgia Press. It has produced this book in a beautiful and enticing format."-Magill's Literary Annual "Equiano, the African is a thoroughly researched work with meticulous notes and an extensive bibliography . Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-made Man is an excellent examination of an influential antislavery advocate who shaped his own identity to best suit an abolitionist agenda. This book provides an important social, political, and racial history of the Atlantic world during the late eighteenth century that would prove invaluable to any student of the era." -History: Reviews of New Books "Focused, well-researched, and gripping . Carretta has told a remarkable analytic story of Equiano the African, who truly was a self-made man of the eighteenth century." -Multicultural Review "Meticulously researched . Carretta uses the skills of an expert historian . Carretta's careful study can help students better analyze and re-evaluate sources that raise questions about Olaudah Equiano."-The North Carolina Historical Review "The first scholarly biography of one of the most extraordinary writers in the Anglo-American canon. It is a book worthy of its subject . powerful, engaging, and beautifully written . Equiano already told his story; Carretta's task is to fill out the details and put it into context, which he does with flair . Carretta gives stunning sccounts of both Equiano's Igbo homeland and the Atlantic slave trade . just as Equiano did with his Interesting Narrative, Carretta is able to put human faces on this horrific enterprise . a model biography-well researched, well-written, recreating not only the subject but the times in which he lived."-Project Muse "With the appearance of Vincent Carretta's new biography, our knowledge and understanding of Equiano's life has taken a quantum leap forward. . in this biography, Carretta proves himself to be a fine historian. He has mastered the relevant secondary literature, not only on major subjects such as slavery and antislavery, but also on smaller ones such as the Royal Navy and the history of artic exploration. . Carretta's work, in sum, is a signal achievement. It is difficult to see how it can be surpassed anytime soon as the definitive scholarly biography." -Georgia Historical Quarterly "With an impressive breadth of knowledge of the religious, literary, social, and cultural conditions of Equiano's time, Carretta's work in fourteen chapters frames an inquiry from which scholars of several disciplines will surely benefit. . truly engaging social and cultural contextualization." -Journal of African American History |
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