Customer Reviews

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

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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).

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).

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.

"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself" is quite an extraordinary story. Equiano was just at age eleven when he was captured as a slave, then further along his lifetime he rose up and worked his way up to obtain his own freedom. Fascinating story in a good, lightweight paperback edition. A very short and easy read. Recommended for anyone who has an interest in 18th Century history.

The supplier sent exactly what they said they would when they said they would. Great condition and timely arrival!!! I will definitely be using this supplier again for school books.

The product said it was in good shape, as soon as I open the cover the backing fell off of it, I didnt return it b/c I needed it for class.

This book said that it was used-like new and there was highlighting and pen marks on every single page. It was very distracting and not what I paid for at all. Very disappointed.

The 1772 publication date of Gronniosaw's _Narrative_ seems to have been recently established by Vincent Carretta in _Unchained Voices: An Anthology of Black Authors in the English-Speaking World of the 18th Century_ (Kentucky, 1996), with the evidence offered on pp. 53-54. The post-1791 editions in which Equiano understandably deletes the wording "My hand is ever free--if any female Debonair wishes to obtain it" after his April 7, 1792 marriage to Susanna Cullen are the 5th (Edinburgh, 1792), the 6th & 7th (both London, 1793), the 8th (Norwich, 1794), and the 9th and last (London, 1794). My source for this information is Vincent Carretta's authoritative Penguin edition of Equiano's _Interesting Narrative_ (1995), pp. 297-297, note 633. A reader from Virginia