![]() time magazine called the black count "one of those quintessentially human stories of strength and courage that sheds light on the historical moment that made it possible." but it is also a heartbreaking story of the enduring bonds of love between a father and son. born in saint-domingue (now haiti), alex dumas made his way to paris, where he rose to command armies at the height of the revolution-until he met an implacable enemy he could not defeat.the black count is simultaneously a riveting adventure story, a lushly textured evocation of 18th-century france, and a window into the modern world’s first multi-racial society. Winner of the pulitzer prize for biography – one of esquire’s best biographies of all time general alex dumas is a man almost unknown today, yet his story is strikingly familiar-because his son, the novelist alexandre dumas, used his larger-than-life feats as inspiration for such classics as the count of monte cristo and the three musketeers.but, hidden behind general dumas's swashbuckling adventures was an even more incredible secret: he was the son of a black slave-who rose higher in the white world than any man of his race would before our own time. spanning the caribbean to the frozen far north, london to morocco, washington black is a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, and of a world destroyed and made whole again. over the course of their travels, what brings wash and christopher together will tear them apart, propelling wash ever farther across the globe in search of his true self. but when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on wash’s head, they must abandon everything and flee together. soon wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning, and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human. to his surprise, however, the eccentric christopher wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. ![]() One of the new york times book review's ten best books of the year – man booker prize finalist – “a gripping historical narrative exploring both the bounds of slavery and what it means to be truly free.” -vanity faireleven-year-old george washington black-or wash-a field slave on a barbados sugar plantation, is initially terrified when he is chosen as the manservant of his master’s brother. beautifully and faithfully presented and featuring a foreword and original poem by toni morrison, the black book remains a timeless landmark work. a labor of love and a vital link to the richness and diversity of african american history and culture, the black book honors the past, reminding us where our nation has been, and gives flight to our hopes for what is yet to come. indeed, it was an article she found while researching this project that provided the inspiration for morrison’s masterpiece, beloved. prominent collectors morris levitt, roger furman, and ernest smith joined harris and morrison (then a random house editor, ultimately a two-time pulitzer prize–winning nobel laureate) to spend months studying, laughing at, and crying over these materials-transcripts from fugitive slaves’ trials and proclamations by frederick douglass and celebrated abolitionists, as well as chilling images of cross burnings and lynchings, patents registered by black inventors throughout the early twentieth century, and vibrant posters from “black hollywood” films of the 1930s and 1940s. now in a newly restored hardcover edition, the black book remains a breathtaking testament to the legendary wisdom, strength, and perseverance of black men and women intent on freedom. harris and toni morrison led a team of gifted, passionate collectors in compiling these images and nearly five hundred others into one sensational narrative of the black experience in america-the black book. an 1856 article titled “a visit to the slave mother who killed her child.” in 1974, middleton a. ![]() antebellum reward posters for capturing runaway slaves. photographs of war heroes, regal in uniform. twentieth-century sheet music for work songs and freedom chants. nineteenth-century slave auction notices. i still think there is no other work that tells and visualizes a story of such misery with seriousness, humor, grace and triumph.”-toni morrison seventeenth-century sketches of africans as they appeared to marauding european traders. A new edition of the classic new york times bestseller edited by toni morrison, offering an encyclopedic look at the black experience in america from 1619 through the 1940s with the original cover restored.“ i am so pleased the book is alive again.
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