But is not the slave trade entirely a war with the heart of man?

In 1789, Olaudah Equiano published his remarkable autobiography of his journey from enslavement to freedom. Kidnapped from his home in West Africa and sold into slavery as a child, Equiano – renamed Gustavus Vassa – travelled the world as an enslaved man, before he eventually purchased his freedom and became a leading figure in the British abolition campaign.

One of the earliest known books published by a Black African author, Equiano’s vivid and harrowing life story shed light on the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade. The Interesting Narrative has been widely celebrated for its impact on the abolitionist movement and remains today a powerful record of the horrors of slavery.

BIO

Olaudah Equiano , was an abolitionist and writer whose autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789), became the first internationally popular slave narrative. In it, Equiano expresses a strong abolitionist stance and provides firsthand testimony of the transatlantic slave trade as well as a detailed description of life in what is present-day Nigeria.

REVIEWS

"This new edition of Equiano…will become the text of choice for both scholars and students of the Black Atlantic.” -- African American Review

“The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is the foundational text of African-American autobiography. This welcome edition, ably edited by Angelo Costanzo, provides readers of today a generous introduction to Equiano’s life and times in a highly readable and informative format.” -- William L. Andrews, University North Carolina, Chapel Hill

[P]  Penguin Random House  /  May 11, 2004

0.74" H x 7.96" L x 5.16" W (0.55 lbs) 336 pages