First published 2022
David Hackett Fischer examines how enslaved Africans and their descendants transformed American concepts of liberty across different colonial territories. The Pulitzer Prize winner demonstrates that people from various African regions brought linguistic abilities, agricultural methods, and ethical systems that merged with European colonial practices to forge new regional cultures. Fischer spent decades researching in both America and western Africa to reconstruct this hidden history. He reveals distinct patterns of enslavement and cultural development from Puritan New England through Dutch New York, Quaker Pennsylvania, cavalier Virginia, coastal Carolina, and into Louisiana and Texas. The book shows that African contributions created multiple varieties of American culture rather than a single national identity. Fischer argues that these African influences fundamentally shaped the early American republic in ways previously unrecognized by historians. The work offers readers a complete reframing of American origins that places African agency and creativity at the center of colonial development.
Genres: history, non-fiction, biography-memoir, african-american-historical-fiction, cultural-studies, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: hidden-history, reframing-perspectives
Setting: America, Puritan New England, Dutch New York, Quaker Pennsylvania, Cavalier Virginia, Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Western Africa
Period: Colonial Era, Early American Republic
1 pages · Audio CD · Simon & Schuster Audio and Blackstone Publishing