Toussaint Louverture

September 19, 2016
Girard, professor of history at McNeese State University, lucidly reveals how Toussaint Louverture led a remarkable life even in comparison with the other leaders of the Age of Revolutions. Born into slavery in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, Louverture grew up speaking the Fon language of Benin and, most likely, practicing his parents’ Vodou traditions. Louverture was enslaved until he was almost 50, but in the final decade of his life he became a guerrilla fighter, general, diplomat, planter, and head of state before dying as Napoleon’s prisoner in France. As Saint-Domingue became the black republic of Haiti, Louverture presided over a revolution that was significantly more radical—in both ideals and practice—than the American and French uprisings that helped inspire it. Girard’s study, based on extensive research in European archives, succeeds in relating Louverture’s extraordinary life in its many and often contradictory aspects. It also conveys how he became an inspiration to abolitionists, civil rights activists, and anticolonial rebels worldwide without obscuring “the complexities of the Revolution he had to navigate and the skill he displayed in doing so.” Girard’s intelligent and graceful work offers a detailed account of Louverture’s experiences and achievements, as well as a laudable overview of the revolution he helped create and sustain. Agent: Paul Lucas, Janklow & Nesbit.

September 15, 2016
A biography of the man who challenged the power of the leading empires of his day and led the only successful slave revolt in human history.Girard's (History/McNeese State Univ.; Haiti: The Tumultuous History--From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation, 2010, etc.) detailed research on both sides of the Atlantic underpins this fresh portrayal, in which the author successfully dismisses much mythology about who Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803) was, what he stood for, and what he achieved. Girard's fine-grained approach enriches a picture that is often drawn in highly polarized shades. Louverture did indeed lead Haiti's slaves in a revolt for freedom, was involved in their emancipation from France, rose to become general and governor-general of the island, and defeated an army of France's battle-hardened troops sent against him by Napoleon, but at the cost of his own life. Girard develops these high points in his subject's life in terms of the historical context. Louverture's views and aims were not fixed. He was not always an opponent of slavery, nor was he averse to owning slaves himself. He was also an inconsistent opponent of the large plantation owners and the other elements of power in Haiti's racial hierarchy. Girard argues that what Louverture wanted above all was to be recognized as French and treated with the honor and respect due a Frenchman. He fought to master the necessary skills of speech and writing, and he amassed significant landholdings out of the ruins of continuing warfare. He deftly navigated a course between local representatives of French political factions and the different strands of racial politics on the island. He also mastered the art of maneuvering between the great powers, but successes were often pyrrhic. A groundbreaking biography that underscores the difficulties of leading slaves to freedom and avoiding violent extremes.

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September 15, 2016

Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803) is best known as the leader of the Haitian Revolution, a slave revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue that resulted in the establishment of the Republic of Haiti. Born a slave of African descent, Louverture saw himself as French; this dichotomy would define his life and shape his political policies. Girard (Haiti: The Tumultuous History--From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation) attempts to reconcile the contradictions of Louverture's life. Sources documenting his subject's early days are scarce, and the author spends the first part of the biography exploring the unusual race relations of Saint-Domingue, which along with discussions of the area's economic, political, and social issues, provide much-needed context to explain Louverture's shifting loyalties and self-reinventions. While Louverture's role in the revolution comprises a large portion of this work, Girard also considers the hero's life after the conflict, when he became governor and rebuilt Saint-Domingue's agrarian economy by instituting a cultivator system. At the height of his power, Louverture was deposed by Napoleon and imprisoned in France, where he later died. The book ends with a brief discussion of Louverture's legacy. VERDICT A compelling look at an extraordinary historical figure. Recommended for anyone interested in revolutionary and/or Caribbean history.--Rebekah Kati, Durham, NC

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