Thistlewood's diary, kept over the course of forty years, describes in graphic detail how white rule over slaves was predicated on the infliction of terror on the bodies and minds of slaves. Thistlewood treated his slaves cruelly even while he relied on them for his livelihood. Along with careful notes on sugar production, Thistlewood maintained detailed records of a sexual life that fully expressed the society's rampant sexual exploitation of slaves. In Burnard's hands, Thistlewood's diary reveals a great deal not only about the man and his slaves but also about the structure and enforcement of power, changing understandings of human rights and freedom, and connections among social class, race, and gender, as well as sex and sexuality, in the plantation system.
Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Eighteenth-century Jamaica, Britain's largest and most valuable slave-owning colony, relied on a brutal system of slave management to maintain its tenuous social order. Trevor Burnard provides unparalleled insight into Jamaica's vibrant but harsh African and European cultures with a comprehensive examination of the extraordinary diary of plantation owner Thomas Thistlewood.
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A chilling and fascinating picture of the richest British colony in the New World. . . . Essential reading for anyone interested in early American history and culture."
-- Early American Literature
A History Today Best History in 2008 Selection
"Manages to paint an utterly convincing mental and physical portrait of [Thistlewood's] life and times by careful anthropology, imaginative reading and, not least, really good writing."
-- History Today
"A careful study of the social, intellectual, and cultural worlds of a brutal slave owner. . . . A vivid and penetrating portrait of late eighteenth-century Jamaica."
-- American Historical Review
"Morbidly fascinating and compelling. . . . Enable[s] us to understand more clearly the limited range of choices left for [people] of African descent to make under the tyranny of Thistlewood and his ilk."
-- Itinerario
"Compelling. . . . Burnard skillfully explores Jamaican slave society at its zenith."
-- Caribbean Studies
A subtle, compelling, and beautifully written study of the racial, social, and gendered power systems that characterized eighteenth-century Jamaica. (Betty Wood, Cambridge University)
Based on the 37-volume diary of Thomas Thistlewood (1721-1786), an English immigrant slave keeper and plantation owner in Jamaica, Burnard analyzes the structure and enforcement of power, the understandings of human rights, and the connections among class, race, gender, and sexuality in the Atlantic world.
Trevor Burnard's Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire is a detailed study based on a rather unusual and exhaustive diary of an English migrant who becomes a small slaveholder in eighteenth-century Jamaica. It probably contains more information than any single source on Jamaican society and on slaves and slavery, and provides many important insights into the lives of slaves and of whites. Given the subject and the materials, this book will be of interest to all concerned with the study of slavery as well as scholars of the Caribbean and of British Caribbean history. (Stanley L. Engerman, University of Rochester )
-- Early American Literature
A History Today Best History in 2008 Selection
"Manages to paint an utterly convincing mental and physical portrait of [Thistlewood's] life and times by careful anthropology, imaginative reading and, not least, really good writing."
-- History Today
"A careful study of the social, intellectual, and cultural worlds of a brutal slave owner. . . . A vivid and penetrating portrait of late eighteenth-century Jamaica."
-- American Historical Review
"Morbidly fascinating and compelling. . . . Enable[s] us to understand more clearly the limited range of choices left for [people] of African descent to make under the tyranny of Thistlewood and his ilk."
-- Itinerario
"Compelling. . . . Burnard skillfully explores Jamaican slave society at its zenith."
-- Caribbean Studies
A subtle, compelling, and beautifully written study of the racial, social, and gendered power systems that characterized eighteenth-century Jamaica. (Betty Wood, Cambridge University)
Based on the 37-volume diary of Thomas Thistlewood (1721-1786), an English immigrant slave keeper and plantation owner in Jamaica, Burnard analyzes the structure and enforcement of power, the understandings of human rights, and the connections among class, race, gender, and sexuality in the Atlantic world.
Trevor Burnard's Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire is a detailed study based on a rather unusual and exhaustive diary of an English migrant who becomes a small slaveholder in eighteenth-century Jamaica. It probably contains more information than any single source on Jamaican society and on slaves and slavery, and provides many important insights into the lives of slaves and of whites. Given the subject and the materials, this book will be of interest to all concerned with the study of slavery as well as scholars of the Caribbean and of British Caribbean history. (Stanley L. Engerman, University of Rochester )
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
P. Stern,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World (Paperback)
This fascinating book is scrupulously researched and very well-written. It is also, in its fine-grained portrayal of the slave-holder Thomas Thistlewood, deeply disturbing. The paradox that Burnard explores is how Thistlewood, an amateur botanist and would-be student of the enlightenment, could also be a sadistic slave-holder in a viciously degrading society. It's extremely thought-provoking, and Burnard's own careful judgments seem consistently on the money. For me, this is an ideal work of academic history.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enlightening experience,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World (Paperback)
May the world be ever thankful for those who, like the author of this book, can dedicate their effort to enlightening us with such brilliant insight into a relatively small, but not insignificant, part of our past.
This is an experience, not quite removed from that revealed in "King Leopold's Ghost", from which those of us with a sense of responsibility can all benefit, and be encouraged to strive to make this world a better habitat for all of us who happen to share it.
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant,
By
This review is from: Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World (Paperback)
This is an absolutely brilliant book, and I do not use that word lightly. It is must reading for anyone interested (even tangentially) in Caribbean history or indeed in fascinating history in general.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
On 24 April 1750 at about noon, the Flying Flamborough docked at Kingston, Jamaica, after a long and troublesome voyage from London. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
cowskin heroes, white egalitarianism, pen keeper, conscious equality, demographic failure, slave hiring, miserable slavery, poorer whites Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Breadnut Island, John Cope, Edward Long, Westmoreland Parish, Thomas Thistlewood, American Revolution, William Beckford, Samuel Hayward, South Carolina, William Dorrill, Bryan Edwards, North America, British America, British Empire, Congo Sam, Thomas Emotson, Vineyard Pen, West African, American South, British West Indies, Charles Leslie, Egypt Plantation, Florentius Vassall, House Franke, Molly Cope New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
On 24 April 1750 at about noon, the Flying Flamborough docked at Kingston, Jamaica, after a long and troublesome voyage from London. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
cowskin heroes, white egalitarianism, pen keeper, conscious equality, demographic failure, slave hiring, miserable slavery, poorer whites Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Breadnut Island, John Cope, Edward Long, Westmoreland Parish, Thomas Thistlewood, American Revolution, William Beckford, Samuel Hayward, South Carolina, William Dorrill, Bryan Edwards, North America, British America, British Empire, Congo Sam, Thomas Emotson, Vineyard Pen, West African, American South, British West Indies, Charles Leslie, Egypt Plantation, Florentius Vassall, House Franke, Molly Cope New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
2
books
cite this book:
- The History of Jamaica. Or, A General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of That Island: With Reflections etc. Volume III (Research Library of Colonial Americana) by Edward Long on 9 pages
- The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-3 of 6 (Everyman's Library) by Edward Gibbon on page 110, page 113, and Back Matter
- Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made by Eugene D. Genovese in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- History of Jamaica by Clinton Black in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Sugar And Slavery: An Economic History Of The British West Indies by Richard Sheridan in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 100 books this book cites
- Hurricanes and Society in the British Greater Caribbean, 1624--1783 (Early America: History, Context, Culture) by Matthew Mulcahy in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- New Studies in the History of American Slavery by Edward E. Baptist on page 205, and Back Matter
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
