Overview

From a New York Times bestselling author, a gripping account of the slave rebellion that led to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. For five horrific weeks after Christmas in 1831, Jamaica was convulsed by an uprising of its enslaved people. What started as a peaceful labor strike quickly turned into a full-blown revolt, leaving hundreds of plantation houses in smoking ruins. By the time British troops had put down the rebels, more than a thousand Jamaicans lay dead from summary executions and extrajudicial murder. While the rebels lost their military gamble, their sacrifice accelerated the larger struggle for freedom in the British Atlantic. The daring and suffering of the Jamaicans galvanized public opinion throughout the empire, triggering a decisive turn against slavery. For centuries bondage had fed Britain's appetite for sugar. Within two years of the Christmas rebellion, slavery was formally abolished. Island on Fire is a dramatic day-by-day account of this transformative uprising. A skillful storyteller, Tom Zoellner goes back to the primary sources to tell the intimate story of the men and women who rose up and tasted liberty for a few brief weeks. He provides the first full portrait of the rebellion's enigmatic leader, Samuel Sharpe, and gives us a poignant glimpse of the struggles and dreams of the many Jamaicans who died for liberty.

Full Product Details

9781799923749

Table of Contents

Reviews

Tom Zoellner tells the story of Sam Sharpe's revolution manque, and the subsequent abolition of slavery in Jamaica, in a way that's acutely relevant to the racial unrest of our own time. Island on Fire is impeccably researched and seductively readable. -- Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls' Rising Tom Zoellner is completely right that the 1831-1832 revolt in Jamaica helped break the back of slavery in the British Empire. It's high time that we had a book like the splendid one he has written: a highly readable but carefully documented account of the greatest of all British slave rebellions, the miseries that led to it, and the momentous changes it wrought. -- Adam Hochschild, New York Times bestselling author An engaging history of the horrific system of slavery practiced in Jamaica and the slave revolt that finally killed it...Resurrecting this important historical episode, Zoellner moves nimbly through the research, giving an exciting account of the events as well as the significant consequences when the news reached England weeks later. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

An engaging history of the horrific system of slavery practiced in Jamaica and the slave revolt that finally killed it...Resurrecting this important historical episode, Zoellner moves nimbly through the research, giving an exciting account of the events as well as the significant consequences when the news reached England weeks later. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Tom Zoellner is completely right that the 1831-1832 revolt in Jamaica helped break the back of slavery in the British Empire. It's high time that we had a book like the splendid one he has written: a highly readable but carefully documented account of the greatest of all British slave rebellions, the miseries that led to it, and the momentous changes it wrought. -- Adam Hochschild, New York Times bestselling author Tom Zoellner tells the story of Sam Sharpe's revolution manque, and the subsequent abolition of slavery in Jamaica, in a way that's acutely relevant to the racial unrest of our own time. Island on Fire is impeccably researched and seductively readable. -- Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls' Rising

""An engaging history of the horrific system of slavery practiced in Jamaica and the slave revolt that finally killed it...Resurrecting this important historical episode, Zoellner moves nimbly through the research, giving an exciting account of the events as well as the significant consequences when the news reached England weeks later."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"" ""Tom Zoellner is completely right that the 1831-1832 revolt in Jamaica helped break the back of slavery in the British Empire. It's high time that we had a book like the splendid one he has written: a highly readable but carefully documented account of the greatest of all British slave rebellions, the miseries that led to it, and the momentous changes it wrought."" -- ""Adam Hochschild, New York Times bestselling author"" ""Tom Zoellner tells the story of Sam Sharpe's revolution manqué, and the subsequent abolition of slavery in Jamaica, in a way that's acutely relevant to the racial unrest of our own time. Island on Fire is impeccably researched and seductively readable."" -- ""Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls' Rising""

Author Information

Tom Zoellner is the author of Uranium, Train, and The Heartless Stone and coauthor of the New York Times bestselling An Ordinary Man. He teaches at Chapman University and Dartmouth College and is the politics editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books. Mirron Willis--actor of film, stage, and television--is the winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2012 and a finalist for the Audie in 2015, as well as the winner of four AudioFile Earphones Awards for his audiobook recordings. He has worked extensively in film and television and on stage with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Houston Shakespeare Festival, and the Ensemble Theatre, among others. He has recorded some 150 audiobooks, including the Smokey Dalton series by Kris Nelscott and My Song by Harry Belafonte. He resides and records audiobooks on his family's historic ranch in East Texas.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available