{"product_id":"toussaint-louverture-a-revolutionary-life-9780465094134","title":"Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe definitive biography of the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture  leader of the only successful slave revolt in world history  Toussaint Louvertures life was one of hardship  triumph  and contradiction. Born into bondage in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti)  the richest colony in the Western Hemisphere  he witnessed first-hand the torture of the enslaved population. Yet he managed to secure his freedom and establish himself as a small-scale planter. He even purchased slaves of his own.  In Toussaint Louverture  Philippe Girard reveals the dramatic story of how Louverture transformed himself from lowly freedman to revolutionary hero. In 1791  the unassuming Louverture masterminded the only successful slave revolt in history. By 1801  he was general and governor of Saint-Domingue  and an international statesman who forged treaties with Britain  France  Spain  and the United States-empires that feared the effect his example would have on their slave regimes. Louvetures ascendency was short-lived  however. In 1802  he was exiled to France  dying soon after as one of the most famous men in the world  variously feared and celebrated as the \"Black Napoleon.\"  As Girard shows  in life Louverture was not an idealist  but an ambitious pragmatist. He strove not only for abolition and independence  but to build Saint-Domingues economic might and elevate his own social standing. He helped free Saint-Domingues slaves yet immediately restricted their rights in the interests of protecting the islands sugar production. He warded off French invasions but embraced the cultural model of the French gentility.  In death  Louverture quickly passed into legend  his memory inspiring abolitionist  black nationalist  and anti-colonialist movements well into the 20th century. Deeply researched and bracingly original  Toussaint Louverture is the definitive biography of one of the most influential people of his era  or any other.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45279787810869,"sku":"ByrdShop_0465094139","price":39.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780465094134.jpg?v=1780610271","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/toussaint-louverture-a-revolutionary-life-9780465094134","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}