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704graham's review
4.0
Really fascinating topic but the non-fiction writing can drag at times, especially when it comes to the post-French Revolution political maneuvering/intrigue. In these less engaging sections, I found it easy to get lost in the sea of very-dead French politicians. The sheer amount of information, specifically multiple firsthand account of the events described, is a great. It’s a very effective way to tell a story that did not have substantial/nearly enough anthropological research that would do the Haitian Revolution justice.
TLDR: The tone feels a little dated/stale but the depth of the research and overall topic are incredible.
TLDR: The tone feels a little dated/stale but the depth of the research and overall topic are incredible.
lhamilton's review
5.0
This was an amazing read! CLR James is such a dramatic storyteller. I didn’t realize how complex a figure Toussaint L’Ouverture was - there was a Frank discussion of his errors and naivety that I really appreciated. Even at the end of his life while being starved and frozen to death in a French prison, he was petitioning Bonaparte for a trial. I’d love to read more Marxist historical accounts like this one!
danhf's review
5.0
A deceptively complicated work of historiography that turns Haiti's war of Black liberation into an electrifying pageturner. Both exciting and saddening to read, the intense brutality of the truly epic last chapter will haunt me for a while, while the lessons it teaches about the lengths to which powerful white people will go to maintain their material advantage is as relevant today as it ever has been.
shellys's review
5.0
The impact of Haiti on the French Revolution, on Napoleon's plans in Europe and the Americas, Rochambeau's machinations, the relentless European attempts to reinstate slavery, and the involvement of Britain in pushing for brutal policies after Haitian independence is a story that should be heard and taught.
This is a 'must read' book for the study of the late 1700s/early 1800s.
This is a 'must read' book for the study of the late 1700s/early 1800s.
venneh's review
4.0
CLR James was a Marxist trained historian from Trinidad, and this book is considered one of his masterpieces. Given the recent article about Haiti, and the realization that I have honestly never heard anything about this particular bit of history, reading this was a wonderful experience. James’ writing can be a bit dry and clinical at times, but he gets into his swing best when he’s systematically destroying biased histories and getting into class struggle. This was written in ‘38, but later updated in the 60s (the Vintage edition), and that is the version I read. This history also places the revolution in the context of the French Revolution as well, and the way they failed to hold the same standards they fought for to the population of Haiti, and how the people of Haiti fighting for their freedoms may have been actually truer to those ideals. It also looks at the sociopolitical aspects of race and class in the colony, which shows how the various classes were played against each other, and how events in Haiti and France played against each other. Because of all of this, Touissant L’Oueverture becomes mildly symbolic throughout this history, but James makes sure that you know he was still capable of making mistakes. This version also has an essay that traces Touissant’s legacy to Fidel Castro in the 60s. The read can be a bit difficult at times (both in how it’s written and some of the horrors of what’s covered), but given the general lack of scholarship in the area, definitely worth a read.
bou's review
3.0
It has its moments of beautiful prose and inspiring revolutionary insight, but overall The Black Jacobins is a major disappointment. No one can deny the incredible historical research James' conducted to complete this daunting task of historicizing the colony of St.Domingue before the eve of revolution and detailing the major events a 13-year-long war. His sourcing of personal letters between major political figures, and even somehow finding quotes of unnamed enslaved Africans (probably statements preserved via oral history), does wonders to characterize the time and space of French-controlled St.Domingue.
Where James' loses me is in his project to underscore Touissant as THE face of the revolution going as far as calling him, paraphrasing here, "intellectually superior" to other black people on the island. James will make limiting analytical statements about other figures like Dessalines simply writing that "he was a barbarian" with no further analysis. Interestingly amongst the Haitian masses, Touissant is viewed as a liberal and a (aspiring) French man, who believed the best direction for his island was to become a state under French provision. Dessalines was more "violent", radical, and not as digestible to the white historian and intellectual, but it was he who led us to total independence, not Touissant. I'm not interested in these disputes like this though. I don't believe history has heroes, good, or bad people. One's actions are a response to historical forces and their class allegiances. Figures need to be understood not blindly cherished and James' haloes Toussiant often times to a cringey degree.
Now, at a simple content level, I feel quite differently from most and found this book to be incredibly boring. . James' tries to historicize the French Revolution alongside the revolutionary developments in St.Domingue for some parts of the and I think the project might be too big. There are moments of beauty, but I found the writing to be overwhelming inaccessible, stilted, and unengaging for most of the book
I hope readers unfamiliar with the Haitian Revolution go beyond this book. This is simply one perspective and a school of thought that cannot and does not give a complete picture.
Where James' loses me is in his project to underscore Touissant as THE face of the revolution going as far as calling him, paraphrasing here, "intellectually superior" to other black people on the island. James will make limiting analytical statements about other figures like Dessalines simply writing that "he was a barbarian" with no further analysis. Interestingly amongst the Haitian masses, Touissant is viewed as a liberal and a (aspiring) French man, who believed the best direction for his island was to become a state under French provision. Dessalines was more "violent", radical, and not as digestible to the white historian and intellectual, but it was he who led us to total independence, not Touissant. I'm not interested in these disputes like this though. I don't believe history has heroes, good, or bad people. One's actions are a response to historical forces and their class allegiances. Figures need to be understood not blindly cherished and James' haloes Toussiant often times to a cringey degree.
Now, at a simple content level, I feel quite differently from most and found this book to be incredibly boring. . James' tries to historicize the French Revolution alongside the revolutionary developments in St.Domingue for some parts of the and I think the project might be too big. There are moments of beauty, but I found the writing to be overwhelming inaccessible, stilted, and unengaging for most of the book
I hope readers unfamiliar with the Haitian Revolution go beyond this book. This is simply one perspective and a school of thought that cannot and does not give a complete picture.
madswag27's review against another edition
4.0
This took me so long to read simply because it was so packed full of info and I feel like I need to reread the whole thing a time or two again just to properly digest this history. I sometimes lost track of the countless names and places and military actions and I'm glad I had some grounding in the French Rev going in or this might have been too much to take in. However, it was extremely interesting to approach the late 18th c. values of liberty and independence from the perspective of an actual Caribbean slave colony, I felt like I got a clear picture of Toussaint L'Ouverture as a man and a revolutionary leader, and the Haitian revolution is a fascinating, if brutal and heartbreaking, area of history that I absolutely want to learn more about. And you should too.
alizasnow's review
I read this for a class. Very information dense, but it’s important and interesting