Book 40 - Black Spartacus by Sudhir Hazaresingh

Reading date - November 2020

I struggled with this book a bit at first as it was quite dry and data heavy but once you have the initial facts learnt, it's an easy and very interesting read.

It tells the story of Toussaint Louverture which was way more fascinating than I thought it would be.  The thing I liked best about this book was the fact that it didn't build him to be some kind of hero who had no flaws.  He had flaws but he still achieved great things.  I am all for balanced history, not a story told from just one side which is what we have been fed at school since school was born.

TL is born a slave in Haiti who manages to earn special privileges on his plantation.  He then manages to use these privileges to gain knowledge he would never have obtained had he not had those special privileges.

The story progresses and it would read as if it was fiction if there weren't records around that backed it up.  It is no surprise that a successful uprising was kept so quiet by the western world.   TL becomes the governor of Haiti and abolishes slavery.  

There is not a happy ending but the book is fabulous.  I would recommend it to everyone who wants to know what actually happens in history when it is told fairly.