The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself (The Bedford Series in History and Culture) [Paperback]

Olaudah Equiano (Author), Robert J. Allison (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0312111274 | ISBN-13: 978-0312111274

More than just a fascinating story, Olaudah Equiano's autobiography -- the first slave narrative to be widely read -- reveals many aspects of the eighteenth-century Western world through the experiences of one individual. This edition is the first in more than twenty-five years to offer the complete text of the Life together with a comprehensive twenty-page introduction and useful editorial apparatus designed to help students get the most out of this important work. Also included are illustrations, a chronology, questions for consideration, a bibliography, and an index.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ROBERT J. ALLISON (Ph.D., Harvard University) is associate professor of history and chair of the department at Suffolk University, where he teaches U.S. and world history and the history of Boston. He is the author of A Short History of Boston (2004) and The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World 1776-1815 (2000). He has edited two volumes of twentieth-century American political and social history: History In Dispute: The Pursuit of Progress, 1900-1945 and The Pursuit of Liberty, 1945-2000 (2000). He has also edited several volumes in the award-winning American Eras series, including The Revolutionary Era, 1754-1783 (1998) and The Development of a Nation, 1783-1815 (1997). Allison is an elected life member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He is currently working on a biography of the American naval hero Stephen Decatur.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's (April 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312111274
• ISBN-13: 978-0312111274
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #879,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars caveat emptor, March 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself (The Bedford Series in History and Culture) (Paperback)

Prospective buyers of Mr. Allison's edition of Equiano's autobiography should be advised that although Mr. Allison says that his "edition follows the first American printing . . . (New York, 1791)" and that "the only significant changes . . . are the insertion of paragraph breaks and notes to the text," Mr. Allison does not warn the reader that he's silently combined parts of various editions of the autobiography to form a book Equiano himself never published. For example, if you compare the next-to-the-last paragraph (p. 195), in which Equiano mentions his marriage, to the passage on page 187, where he says his hand is free, you might get the impression that he's saying he's available for adultery or bigamy. But the fault lies not in Equiano, who changed the earlier passage after he added the paragraph about his marriage in 1792. What Mr. Allison gives us is his text, not Equiano's. And he might have mentioned that the New York edition was published without Equiano's knowledge or permission. Readers should also not assume that all "facts" given are true. For example, on page 21, Gronniosaw's book was published in 1772 (not 1770), Marrant's in 1785 (not 1790), and Equiano died on 31 March 1797 (not in April).

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Interesting Narrative Of The LIfe of Olaudah Equiano, November 2, 2010

By 

Tigger - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself, Second Edition (Bedford Series in History and Culture) (Paperback)

This is a must read, especially if you are Caucasian. Born in Louisiana, my family members live all over the state (having migrated down from Boston, through Virginia, the Carolina's, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. I have ancestry that not only owned and operated cotton plantations dating way back, but have traced back to find the first family on my fathers side to have owned and operated schooners and sailed them from Liverpool to Boston and Baltimore. Looking further into the sailing ships of the day and the most common "cargo" shipping to and from these and surrounding ports, brings Olaudah's story much more close to home. For me, it is heartwrenching to say the very least. The stories uncovered of my family recollections and mindframes are astonishing and in many ways appalling, to say the very least.

If you find yourself not to have much of an opinion or knowledge of America's true beginning and who suffered most, read this book. Then, pick a number with more than two commas, and multiply Olauda's story by that number (keeping in mind that as horrifying as many of the circumstances were in Olaudah's narrative, that his was unique and much less horrifying than the circumstances and ultimate outcome of the lives of most having come to America via sailing ships such as these in the early days).

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful ... Buy It Used!, June 4, 2011

By 

JSmalls - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself (Bedford Series in History & Culture) (Paperback)

I know I'll be struck down for saying so as an African scholar, but this book is as boring as anything I have ever read. It is of great use as a primary source, but is a tough go for every the hardiest of academics.