Kenneth Greenberg is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the
History Department at Suffolk University. His books include Masters
and Statesmen: The Political Culture of American Slavery and Honor
and Slavery: Lies, Duels, Noses, Masks, Dressing as a Woman, Gifts,
Strangers, Humanitarianism, Death, Slave Rebellions, the Proslavery
Argument, Baseball, Hunting and Gambling in the Old South. He is
the editor of The Confessions of
Nat Turner.
"[A] dedicated effort by historians to unearth the rich particulars
from which historical memory is created."--Richmond
Times-Dispatch
"Offer[s] new insight into the man, his rebellion and his
time."--Publishers Weekly
"An eclectic collection of perspectives about Nat Turner and his
rebellion."--Times Literary Supplement
"An illuminating stew of antebellum Southern history, ethnic
relations, and contemporary social literature."--Kirkus Reviews
"Informed by much new work on the context of slave life and
rebellion, an understanding of African American folk and literary
texts, and improved methods of psychobiography. No single vision of
Nat Turner or meaning for his rebellion emerges, but all the essays
repay several readings and remind us how central understanding of
him is to any hope of getting hold of slavery's place in the
American mind and conscience."--Library Journal
"With the prospects of terror so much on our minds, the publication
of this fascinating collection is especially appropriate. Kenneth
Greenberg's engrossing introduction and the essays that follow
explore from nearly every interpretive angle the dramatic events of
Southampton County, Virginia (1831). The authors illustrate how a
deep, incandescent loathing of slavery and desire for freedom led
the visionary Turner and his slave band to slaughter white
civilians, young and old, an effort that prompted equally
terroristic vengeance by an outraged, frightened slaveholding
population. Moral ambiguities abound, and the reader is compelled
to ponder the tragedy of
American race relations in a most profound way."--Bertram
Wyatt-Brown, University of Florida
"Nat Turner is no longer merely villain or hero in American memory.
This splendid collection of scholarly essays and remembrances
offers the most thorough understanding we have yet had of this
pivotal slave rebel. We can see Turner here from multiple
perspectives: historical, moral, psychological, literary, and
especially the politics of memory and race."--David W. Blight, Yale
University
From the moment of the rebellion he led in 1831 that killed almost 60 whites, terrorized Southampton County, VA, and shook slaveholders everywhere, to the many evocations of him and his bloody course in folklore and literature, various people have sought to capture the enigmatic and elusive Nat Turner for their cause. Finding the "real" Turner has fascinated people from the first interrogations before he was hanged continuing down to this collection of new and previously published essays by 12 scholars in history, literature, and psychology, including an interview with novelist William Styron, whose The Confessions of Nat Turner won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1968. Edited by Greenberg (history, Suffolk Univ.), this collection is informed by much new work on the context of slave life and rebellion, an understanding of African American folk and literary texts, and improved methods of psychobiography. No single vision of Nat Turner or meaning for his rebellion emerges, but all the essays repay several readings and remind us how central understanding him is to any hope of getting hold of slavery's place in the American mind and conscience. Updating Albert E. Stine's The Return of Nat Turner, this is recommended for large history collections and academic libraries.-Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
"[A] dedicated effort by historians to unearth the rich particulars from which historical memory is created."--Richmond Times-Dispatch "Offer[s] new insight into the man, his rebellion and his time."--Publishers Weekly "An eclectic collection of perspectives about Nat Turner and his rebellion."--Times Literary Supplement "An illuminating stew of antebellum Southern history, ethnic relations, and contemporary social literature."--Kirkus Reviews "Informed by much new work on the context of slave life and rebellion, an understanding of African American folk and literary texts, and improved methods of psychobiography. No single vision of Nat Turner or meaning for his rebellion emerges, but all the essays repay several readings and remind us how central understanding of him is to any hope of getting hold of slavery's place in the American mind and conscience."--Library Journal "With the prospects of terror so much on our minds, the publication of this fascinating collection is especially appropriate. Kenneth Greenberg's engrossing introduction and the essays that follow explore from nearly every interpretive angle the dramatic events of Southampton County, Virginia (1831). The authors illustrate how a deep, incandescent loathing of slavery and desire for freedom led the visionary Turner and his slave band to slaughter white civilians, young and old, an effort that prompted equally terroristic vengeance by an outraged, frightened slaveholding population. Moral ambiguities abound, and the reader is compelled to ponder the tragedy of American race relations in a most profound way."--Bertram Wyatt-Brown, University of Florida "Nat Turner is no longer merely villain or hero in American memory. This splendid collection of scholarly essays and remembrances offers the most thorough understanding we have yet had of this pivotal slave rebel. We can see Turner here from multiple perspectives: historical, moral, psychological, literary, and especially the politics of memory and race."--David W. Blight, Yale University
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