How did the bloodiest slave uprising in American history--once thought to have involved hundreds of conspirators; black and white; free and enslaved--come to be known simply as "Nat Turner's Rebellion"? And why does the enigmatic figure of the rebellious slave resonate so powerfully across American history? In this richly detailed study spanning the eras of slavery; Jim Crow; and civil rights; Scot French places the contested history and enduring memory of Nat Turner’s Rebellion within the broader context of the black freedom struggle. French builds his narrative around close readings of historical texts; both famous and obscure; from early American prophecies of slave rebellion to William Styron's 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about Turner. He devotes considerable attention to the interplay between quasi-official narratives; such as "The Confessions of Nat Turner" by Thomas R. Gray; and less authoritative sources; such as rumor and oral tradition. Whereas most historians accept "The Confessions" as gospel; French presents several compelling counternarratives that point to a wider conspiracy. A groundbreaking work of American history; analogous to Merrill D. Peterson’s Abraham Lincoln in American Memory and Nell Painter’s Sojourner Truth: A Life; a Symbol; The Rebellious Slave will alter our views of both slavery and its complex; ever-changing legacy. “Nat Turner was neither the first nor the last American slave to rise in arms against his oppressors;†French writes. “Yet he stands alone in American culture as the epitome of the rebellious slave; a black man whose words and deeds challenged the white slaveholding South and awakened a slumbering nation. A maker of history in his own day; Turner has been made to serve the most pressing needs of every generation since. In remembering Nat Turner; Americans must boldly confront--or deftly evade; at their peril--the intertwined legacies of slavery and racism in a nation founded on revolutionary ideals of freedom and equality.â€
#836178 in Books Roya Hakakian 2005-06-28 2005-06-28Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x .60 x 5.30l; .61 #File Name: 0609810308256 pagesJourney from the Land of No A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Vefry Good Middle Class PerspectiveBy BabakThis book is a treasure for those interested in enhancing their understanding of religious minorities' "Nationalist" mindset in Iran; particularly during the Pahlavi period. One has to take into cosideration that a large number of Jews in Iran converted to Islam for pragmatic reasons prior to the Pahlavi dynasty. The brand of pre-Islamic nationanist secularism promoted by the Pahlavi shahs in Iran is ever present throughout this book. The author does; to some degree; have an understanding of an "Iranian consciousness" regardless of religious inclination. She is very sympathetic toward "martyrs" of Iran-Iraq war; to the extend to which she modestly discredits herself as a moral authority on the subject due to the fact that she did not pay a physical price for defending Iran. Many Iranian Jews consider themselves Iranians first and then perhaps Jewish; quite similar to many secular Muslim Iranians.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A beautiful; harrowing read ...By c langridgeEvery American should educate themselves about the country of Iran; which was Persia; and the history of the U.S. and that country. This story is the autobiographical account of a young girl; born into the idyllic place Iran was at that time (beautiful; peaceful; later tensions then unheard of) and coming of age at the end of the Shah's reign and the in-between years before hard-line Islamists turned Iran into the hell it is today. Anything was possible and they believed freedom would be theirs at last: little did they know. A beautiful; harrowing read ...15 of 15 people found the following review helpful. A major book by an important writerBy Wendy SalingerThis book opened my eyes like nothing I've read since "Midnight's Children." And it is all the more powerful for being a woman's story. Do we have many books like this? I don't think so. It's the story of the convergence of the peak; rapid-fire events of the writer's dawning adolescence with the historically definitive crises of her country of Iran; her city of Tehran. I agree with Salman Rushdie that the health of a culture can be measured by its treatment of women. JOURNEY follows a trail of blood--the blood of the lamb slaughtered for a wedding feast; the blood of a disgraced female cousin's questioned virginity; and finally the blood of the martrys of the revolution. And then there is the writer's own blood--her first menstrual blood at 13. On the threshold of womanhood; she wonders at the shame assigned to women; the glory to the martyr's sacrifice: "No matter how young or old; that bleeding head was venerated. And not my blood?" A wonderful thing in this book is the chapter about the character of Mrs. Arman. The female schoolteacher; mother and muse of women writers. (Like a Eudora Welty schoolteacher heroine.) She gives her students a sense of solidarity in their exile under the Muslim regime; her touch restores them to their bodies. And it's the moment when Mrs. Arman proclaims--you're a writer! you're a writer! Don't ever forget it! Don't let me down!--that is the decisive one in the author's story; that baptizes her and sanctifies her coming journey out into the world. Because the story's about her emergence as a writer as well. It's only when the map of her beloved city (which her writing traces) is no longer recognizable and the notebooks she's filled with her poetry have been burnt; that her journey from the land of No is inescapable. The writing is breaktaking. The metaphors flow effortlessly. I think this is a major book by an important writer.
