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Book

The first and last king of Haiti : the rise and fall of Henry Christophe

Call Number

  • 921 H517 (CEN, OSH, POW)

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Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2025.

Physical Description

xxiv, 630 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm

Summary

"The essential biography of the controversial rebel, traitor, and only king of Haiti. Henry Christophe (1767 - 1820) is one of the most richly complex figures in the history of the Americas, and was, in his time, popular and famous the world over: in The First and Last King of Haiti, a brilliant young Yale scholar unravels the still controversial enigma that he was"--

Contents

  • Author's note on terminology
  • Prologue: King Henry's drama
  • Introduction: On doing justice to Christophe's story
  • A future king is born
  • A child in a world of slavery and revolution
  • Tracing genealogies to the future king
  • Rising and falling with revolution
  • Complicated victories
  • Love, loss, and betrayal under uncertain skies
  • America avenged
  • Empires rise....
  • Cracks in imperial authority
  • Empires fall....
  • The dawn of civil war
  • A king is crowned
  • Three French spies
  • The age of Christophean diplomacy
  • The age of Christophean prosperity
  • Cracks in kingly authority
  • A king is gone, but not forgotten
  • Kingdom of the next world
  • Epilogue: The greatest heist in history
  • Acknowledgments
  • Illustration credits
  • List of abbreviations.

Subjects