The Making of Haiti: The Saint Domingue Revolution from Below

Rating:
Summary: Revising A Classic {4 1/2 stars}
Review: How to follow in the footsteps of a great historian? One answer is found in this important successor to CLR James's "Black Jacobins." Fick effectively honors James's legacy by expanding the scope of inquiry to encompass the "self-activity" of historical actors at all levels of Haitian society. Where "Black Jacobins" stressed the key role of revolutionary leaders, Fick documents longstanding patterns of everyday resistance and marronage from which the 1791 revolution drew great strength. Her work restores popular agency to the forefront of Haiti's epic history---and James's contribution remains secure, not least due to superior literary merit.