Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a former New York Times bureau chief for the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai. The author of five books, French lives in New York City.
"Born in Blackness is enlivened with personal anecdotes… I
found the book to be searing, humbling and essential reading."
*Nigel Cliff - The New York Times*
"There are few words that can express the resounding impact of
French’s breathtaking work on the known historiography of African
and African American history . . . Highly recommended for any
audience."
*Monique Martinez - Library Journal*
"The way we think about history is entirely wrong, says Howard W
French at the start of this magnificent, powerful and
absorbing book... This is not a comfortable or comforting
read, but it is beautifully done; a masterpiece even... French
writes with the elegance you would expect from a distinguished
foreign correspondent, and with the passion of someone deeply
committed to providing a corrective."
*Peter Frankopan - The Observer*
"A recasting of the history of the modern world that places Africa
and Africans at the centre of the story. French argues that the
rise of the west to global dominance was made possible by the
exploration and exploitation of Africa—and, above all, by the slave
trade. He recounts the destruction of complex African societies and
the scale and brutality of slavery. At the time of Black Lives
Matter this is an intensely political message. But French’s book is
no work of propaganda and has been hailed as a “masterpiece” by
Peter Frankopan, professor of global history at Oxford."
*Financial Times*
"A very personal book—written with a steely and elegant
indignation—it is also an impressively detailed historical account
of the role of Africa and Africans in the development of Europe and
the Americas... If the strength of Mr. French’s book lies in its
quiet but adamant righteousness, it rests also in its empirical
force.... It is his view—with which few would rush to argue after
reading Born in Blackness—that the sooner the ‘denial’ about the
role slaves played in creating America’s prosperity is put to rest,
the better Americans as a people will come to understand ‘their
country’s true place in world history.’"
*Tunku Varadarajan - Wall Street Journal*
"Born in Blackness is an extraordinary book that draws deep on
[French’s] decades of experience as he seeks to explain the
circumstances of Africa’s history with Europeans who were first
attracted to the continent in the search of gold and slaves...
French’s narrative is a bold retelling of what has often been told,
but with additional details that might have escaped the attention
of many historians… In many surprising ways, [Born in Blackness]
provides a brilliantly argued case for recognition of Africa’s
immense contribution to modernity."
*Stephen Williams - African Business*
"French writes not only to correct the historical record but to
urge readers to understand how their world has been made by
Africa’s contributions. Born in Blackness is therefore an entry
into a larger debate about how to reckon with the past...For
French, transforming the way we perceive ourselves as citizens of
the most powerful country in the world, and transforming how
we understand the part Africans played in building it, are
necessary steps toward justice and quality"
*Adom Getachew - The New York Review of Books*
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