Designs against Charleston : The Trial Record of the Denmark Slave Conspiracy of 1822 [Hardcover]

Edward A. Pearson (Editor)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 387 pages
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807824461
• ISBN-13: 978-0807824467
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,949,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Anybody wonder why this is so expensive?, February 10, 2005

By 

A Reader "snailgate" (Newark, DE United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Designs against Charleston : The Trial Record of the Denmark Slave Conspiracy of 1822 (Hardcover)

I guess I can be generous to the other reviews. They seem to be written soon after this book was released.

The errors are not just with the maps. This is a poster child for sloppy historical workmanship. A review of this book by Michael P. Johnson, in "William and Mary Quarterly" Oct '01 completly shredded the book and stated that the actual record indicated exactly the reverse of Pearson's conslusion. The Johnson review earned the prize from the Organization of American Historians for the best journal article of that year in all of American History, in spite of the fact that the President of that organization had written a blurb for the back cover praising the book.

The Pearson could not even get it right in the book title--there was no trial.

The current price for this book is so high because the publisher withdrew the book and tried to recover all copies.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor research, inadequate scholarship, May 27, 2006

By 

Bothell Reader (Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designs against Charleston : The Trial Record of the Denmark Slave Conspiracy of 1822 (Hardcover)

Like the previous reviewer stated, this book was thoroughly discredited by Michael P. Johnson. How Pearson could keep his job or his pride after writing this travesty of a book boggles the imagination.

I wonder how he would have graded himself, if he were his own student?

The real tragedy here is that he takes a pivotal historical event in the history of slavery in the US and completely misrepresents it. Bad scholarship doesn't even begin to cover it.

4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched and skilfully edited, March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Designs against Charleston : The Trial Record of the Denmark Slave Conspiracy of 1822 (Hardcover)

This book is a carefully edited work that will be appreciated by scholars and laypersons alike interested in Vesey as well as slavery, racism and resistance in general.