"The story of a mulatta woman, a slave and concubine, determined to take control of her own destiny in a society where that would seem impossible"--Provided by publisher.

The Common Wind is a gripping and colorful account of the intercontinental networks that tied together the free and enslaved masses of the New World. Having delved deep into the gray obscurity of official eighteenth-century records in Spanish, English, and French, Julius S. Scott has written a powerful "history from below." Scott follows the spread of "rumors of emancipation" and the people behind them, bringing to life the protagonists in the slave...

"When C.L.R. James's play "Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History" opened in London featuring Paul Robeson in 1936, it marked the first time black actors starred on the British stage in a play written by a black playwright. But after this groundbreaking play ended its run, the script was lost for almost seventy years. Then a draft copy was found among James's archives, and now this extraordinary drama has been...