From Rebellion to Revolution

In one of his most important books, the renowned historian Eugene D. Genovese examines slave revolts in the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil, placing them in the context of modern world history. By studying the conditions that favoured these revolts and the history of slave guerrilla warfare throughout the Western Hemisphere, he connects the ideology of the revolts to the ideology of the great revolutionary movements of the late eighteenth century.Genovese finds that the slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, constituted a turning point in the history of the slave revolts and, indeed, in the history of the human spirit. By claiming for his enslaved brothers and sisters the same right to human dignity that the French bourgeoisie claimed for itself during the French Revolution, Toussaint began the process by which slave uprisings changed from secessionist rebellions to revolutionary demands for liberty, equality, and justice.

"[Genovese] has taken what was a dreary and fruitless debate and cast it in new and provocative terms . . . he brings a breath of fresh air into a musty old room."--Nathan I. Huggins "New Republic", "This bold and brilliant essay upholds Eugene D. Genovese's reputation as the premier generalist in the slavery field and as a perennial gadfly."-- "American Historical Review"

Eugene D. Genovese was the author of Roll, Jordon, Roll, winner of the Bancroft Prize in 1975; The Political Economy of Slavery; The World the Slaveholders Made; and In Red and Black.