Julia Gaffield I Have Avanged America Jean-Jacques Dessalines biografie review, recensie en informatie over de inhoud van het boek. Op 17 juni 2025 verschijnt bij Yale University Press I Have Avanged America, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti’s Fight for Freedom. Het boek is geschreven door de Amerikaanse historicus en schrijfster Julia Gaffield. Hier lees je informatie over de inhoud van het boek, de auteur en over de uitgave. Een Nederlandse vertaling van het boek is niet verkrijgbaar.

Julia Gaffield I Have Avanged America Jean-Jacques Dessalines biografie review en recensie

•  “At last, a biography of Jean‑Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian par excellence, the only hero of Independence to enter the Vodou pantheon! Julia Gaffield reconstructs the life of the father of the country with exhaustive research and easy‑to‑read prose that avoids value judgments while reflecting a sympathy for her subject that courses through the book.” (Jean Casimir, Université d’État d’Haïti)
• “Julia Gaffield’s long‑awaited biography of Jean‑Jacques Dessalines paints a compelling portrait of one of Haiti’s most enigmatic leaders, a formerly enslaved man who became the nation’s first head of state. Based on prodigious new research, this fascinating book is also propulsively readable. A stunning achievement.” (Ada Ferrer, Princeton University)

I Have Avanged America

Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti’s Fight for Freedom

• Auteur: Julia Gaffield (Verenigde Staten)
• Soort boek: biografie, geschiedenisboek
• Taal: Engels
• Uitgever: Yale University Press
• Verschijnt: 17 juni 2025
• Omvang: 352 pagina’s
• Uitgave: gebonden boek / ebook
• Prijs: $ 35,00
• Boek bestellen bij: Amazon / Bol / Libris

Flaptekst van het boek over de abolitionistische revolutionair uit Haïti

A moving and humane portrait of the abolitionist revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who led Haiti’s fight for independence from French colonial rule.

“My name has become a horror to all those who want slavery,” declared Jean‑Jacques Dessalines as he announced the independence of Haiti, the most radical nation‑state during the Age of Revolution and the first country ever to permanently outlaw slavery. Enslaved for the first thirty years of his life, Dessalines (c. 1758–1806) joined the revolution that abolished slavery within the French colony. Then he became a general in the colonial army of the new French Republic. When it was discovered that France once again supported slavery, Dessalines declared war on his former allies. Fighting under the slogan “Liberty or Death,” his army forced the French to evacuate in late 1803. At the start of the new year, Dessalines declared independence from France and became the leader of a free Haiti.

A hero to Haitians for centuries, Dessalines is portrayed abroad as barbarous and violent. Yet this caricature derives not from facts—as Julia Gaffield demonstrates with extensive new research—but from the fears of contemporary enslavers. Showcasing the man behind the myths, Gaffield reveals Dessalines’s deep suffering, warm friendships, and unwavering commitment to destroying slavery, racism, and colonialism, and his bold insistence on his people’s right to liberty and equality.

Julia Gaffield is associate professor of history at William & Mary. She is the author of Haitian Connections in the Atlantic World: Recognition after Revolution. She lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.

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