All Souls' Rising: A Novel of Haiti

In this first installment of his epic Haitian trilogy, Madison Smartt Bell brings to life a decisive moment in the history of race, class, and colonialism. The slave uprising in Haiti was a momentous contribution to the tide of revolution that swept over the Western world at the end of the 1700s. A brutal rebellion that strove to overturn a vicious system of slavery, the uprising successfully transformed Haiti from a European colony to the world’s first Black republic. From the center of this horrific maelstrom, the heroic figure of Toussaint Louverture–a loyal, literate slave and both a devout Catholic and Vodouisant–emerges as the man who will take the merciless fires of violence and vengeance and forge a revolutionary war fueled by liberty and equality. Bell assembles a kaleidoscopic portrait of this seminal movement through a tableau of characters that encompass black, white, male, female, rich, poor, free and enslaved. Pulsing with brilliant detail, All Soul’s Rising provides a visceral sense of the pain, terror, confusion, and triumph of revolution. As powerful as a hurricane. . . . All Souls’ Rising is really about us, our times, our prejudices, our race wars. --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution A serious historical novel that reads like a dream. --The Washington Post Book World Rich and ambitious. . . . One of the most sophisticated fictional treatments of the enduring themes of class, color, and freedom. --San Francisco Chronicle A powerful and intelligent novel. . . . Historical fiction in the monumental manner. --The New York Times Book Review A beautifully composed, eloquent, grand nightmare of a book. With it, Bell becomes as remarkable a historical novelist as we have in this country. --Harold Bloom