The Making of Haiti: Saint Domingue Revolution From Below

One of the best books I have ever read on the Haitian Revolution. This is a truly a ground breaking book, telling the story of the only truly successful slave uprising from the people's perspective. It was the people who made great leaders like Boukman, Toussaint, Dessalines, and Christophe. I put this book besides Black Jacobins and The Irritated Genie , as a worthy account of the Making of the First Black Republic.

This book is not only a great companion to CLR James' classic, The Black Jacobins, it also initiates a deeper understanding of the forces and factors that were at the root of the revolution. Whereas James' work tends to mythesize leaders, particularly Toussaint, Fick's work is more likely to detail specific battles and events with information on multiple actors. The only trouble is that Fick's book lacks some of the moral indignation that James had as well as his interest in connecting the Haitian Revolution to the political context of modern times. This makes the book more "scholarly" but less compelling. This is a small drawback, however, for those already impassioned about the subject.A new most important aspect of Fick's book is her emphasis and redefinition of the role of the maroons (escaped slaves). Whereas many times the maroons are portrayed as only peripheral actors or precedents to the revolution, Fick's work shows that the community of escaped slave, a very broad category, was one of the main forces at work in the revolution.This book is a must for understanding maroonage, the Haitian Revolution, and a historical investigative method that is liberating!

Fick's book reveals unknown aspects of the haitian revolution: the fundamental role of the masses without witch the revolution would not have taken place. This book is for anyone who is trying to understand the haitian revolution from the people's point of view. It is the equivalent of Zen's People's history of the U.S.

How to follow in the footsteps of a great historian? One answer is found in this important successor to CLR James's 1938 "The Black Jacobins," which strongly influenced historiography of Haiti and the rising anticolonial liberation movement. James emphasized the vanguard role of revolutionary leadership. Fick acknowledges their importance but gives greater weight to ordinary folk, both rank-and-file followers and Haiti's rich history of maroon resistance. This significantly advances our appreciation of the great achievements of Haiti's founders. "Black Jacobins" remains worthwhile, for literary merit as well as insight and its impact on Third World liberation struggles. L. Dubois, "Avengers of the New World" is probably now the standard work, matching James's thrilling narrative with Fick's excellent research.