senevilla's review against another edition
5.0
Really well done biography that allows Toussaint L’ouverture to be as complex as any other figure, a heroic but flawed person. It’s an easy read and worth the time.
andrewfontenelle's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fairly comprehensive biography of Toussaint L'Overature, covering his early life, ascent to and fall from power as well as dealing with the lives of his descendants. The author has used accounts from his supporters as well as detractors together with recently discovered records to construct a picture of the man.
He is clearly presented as an able and pragmatic leader who has become the image of revolution and emancipation. But his decisions and policies were much more complex as the book throws up many of the contradictions that he lived with.
Overall, this is a worthwhile read.
He is clearly presented as an able and pragmatic leader who has become the image of revolution and emancipation. But his decisions and policies were much more complex as the book throws up many of the contradictions that he lived with.
Overall, this is a worthwhile read.
andrewfontenelle's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fairly comprehensive biography of Toussaint L'Overature, covering his early life, ascent to and fall from power as well as dealing with the lives of his descendants. The author has used accounts from his supporters as well as detractors together with recently discovered records to construct a picture of the man.
He is clearly presented as an able and pragmatic leader who has become the image of revolution and emancipation. But his decisions and policies were much more complex as the book throws up many of the contradictions that he lived with.
Overall, this is a worthwhile read.
He is clearly presented as an able and pragmatic leader who has become the image of revolution and emancipation. But his decisions and policies were much more complex as the book throws up many of the contradictions that he lived with.
Overall, this is a worthwhile read.
lulu365's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fairly decent introduction to Louverture (the man and the legacy), but I feel that so much more should have been shared about his policies and thoughts that lead to the revolution. I wouldn’t have minded a little bit more information on the eventual independence of Haiti although it was 3 years after his death. Still.... a nice intro.
sophronisba's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating, complicated, and impressively researched. Recommended if you're at all interested in Haiti or the history of slavery and emancipation.
merlinereads's review against another edition
4.0
Toussaint Louverture is a widely venerated revolutionary hero in Haitian history and inspiration in anticolonial movements, but there are a lot of things I didn't know about him. This was such a nuanced account of his rise from slave to leader of the only successful slave revolt in history, governor of Saint Domingue, and his imprisonment in France. The writing style isn't my favorite, but it filled in some gaps and gave me insight into Louverture's complicated and contradictory life as well as his legacy. I don't know how Girard found enough material to write this given there aren't many records about Louverture's early life and his final days of captivity in France, but I appreciate this unbiased biography. Louverture isn't celebrated as a black nationalist like Jean Jacques Dessalines, but I understand his role as the mastermind of the Haitian Revolution so much more. L'union fait la force.
lawrenceevalyn's review against another edition
5.0
This was a useful and deeply interesting biography— I appreciated how much the author let the complexity and high stakes of the events speak for themselves, rather than editorializing excessively for the drama of it. I learned a lot about 18thC Haiti and France, and found some new research rabbit holes to go down.
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