UID:
kobvindex_ZLB34825052
ISBN:
9781631495830
Content:
" Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history.Traditional accounts of the making of the modern world afford a place of primacy to European history. Some credit the fifteenth-century Age of Discovery and the maritime connection it established between West and East,others the accidental unearthing of the New World. Still others point to the development of the scientific method, or the spread of Judeo-Christian beliefs,and so on, ad infinitum. The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story. What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity? In a sweeping narrative spanning more than six centuries, Howard W. French does just that, for Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the dark continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not8212 as we are so often told, even today8212 Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies sequestered away in the heart of West Africa. Creating a historical narrative that begins with the commencement of commercial relations between Portugal and Africa in the fifteenth century and ends with the onset of World War II, Born in Blackness interweaves precise historical detail with poignant, personal reportage. In so doing, it dramatically retrieves the lives of major African historical figures, from the unimaginably rich medieval emperors who traded with the Near East and beyond, to the Kongo sovereigns who heroically battled seventeenth-century European powers, to the ex-slaves who liberated Haitians from bondage and profoundly altered the course of American history. While French cogently demonstrates the centrality of Africa to the rise of the modern world, Born in Blackness becomes, at the same time, a far more significant narrative, one that reveals a long-concealed history of trivialization and, more often, elision in depictions of African history throughout the last five hundred years. As French shows, the achievements of sovereign African nations and their now-far-flung peoples have time and again been etiolated and deliberately erased from modern history. As the West ascended, their stories8212 siloed and piecemeal8212 were swept into secluded corners, thus setting the stage for the hagiographic rise of the West theories that have endured to this day. Capacious and compelling (Laurent Dubois), Born in Blackness is epic history on the grand scale. In the lofty tradition of bold, revisionist narratives, it reframes the story of gold and tobacco, sugar and cotton8212 and of the greatest commodity of them all, the twelve million people who were brought in chains from Africa to the New World, whose reclaimed lives shed a harsh light on our present world. "
Content:
Biographisches: "A two-time Pulitzer nominee, Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and former New York Times bureau chief in the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai. The author of five books, French lives in New York City." Rezension(2): "〈a href=http://lj.libraryjournal.com/ target=blank〉〈img src=https://images.contentreserve.com/libraryjournal_logo.png alt=Library Journal border=0 /〉〈/a〉: May 1, 2021 Enlightenment ideals, European economic firepower, American democracy: all were achieved by the exploitation of Black Africans and the African diaspora, whose history and accomplishments were consciously blotted out. Pulitzer Prize finalist French here forefronts 600 years of African history and historical figures, first introducing medieval African emperors who traded with Asia, then moving through Kongo sovereignty's challenge to European colonizers and the liberation of Haiti to more recent events during World War II. Woven throughout is the story of international trade in gold, tobacco, sugar, cotton, and, horrifically, human beings. Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission. " Rezension(3): "〈a href=http://www.publishersweekly.com target=blank〉〈img src=https://images.contentreserve.com/pw_logo.png alt=Publisher's Weekly border=0 /〉〈/a〉: August 16, 2021 Gold and slaves from Africa were “the very fulcrum of modernity,” according to this eye-opening if tendentious history. Columbia journalism professor French ( A Continent for the Taking ) argues that the rise of the West relied on West African gold exports, which stimulated Europe’s economy, and the trade in African slaves who produced sugar on Caribbean islands and cotton in the antebellum American South. These two fabulously profitable commodities were central to the rise of British and American capitalism, French contends, and birthed regimented production processes that were a model for industrial labor regimes. Though French elucidates much neglected history here, especially on relations between early modern Europe and the sophisticated—and pro-slavery—polities of Africa, his claim that without slave labor Europe might have remained a “geographic and civilizational dead end” lagging eternally behind Asia and the Islamic world goes too far, and he doesn’t fully explain why Western industries and societies kept flourishing even after slavery’s demise. Elsewhere, French assigns near-magical properties to slave-grown sugar, suggesting that it was essential to the Industrial Revolution, newspapers, and the birth of the “modern public sphere.” The result is an intriguing yet overwrought take on the global economy’s dire origins. Photos." Rezension(4): "〈a href=http://www.kirkusreviews.com target=blank〉〈img src=https://images.contentreserve.com/kirkus_logo.png alt=Kirkus border=0 /〉〈/a〉: September 15, 2021 A Black journalist reframes modern history by restoring Africa to its rightful place at the center of the story. In his latest sweeping book, French, a journalism professor at Columbia and former New York Times foreign correspondent, argues that Europe's conquest of the world was driven not by a desire for access to Asia, but rather a yearning for the modernity and economic prosperity of Africa. The author believes that restoring Africa's true place in world history and current affairs is a step toward combatting the racist diminishment, trivialization, and erasure of Africans from world history. To this end, French traces the deeply twinned and tragic history of Africa and Europe that began with geopolitical collisions in the fifteenth century. The author maintains a particular focus on the roles of African gold, sugar, and slavery in shaping the modern global economy. Throughout, French dispels countless historical myths, including many that render Africans disempowered victims rather than key actors. For example, the author recounts how, in the 1440s, Portugal stopped raiding African countries for slaves, opting instead to negotiate trade agreements with powerful African leaders who profited from the sale of their own people. French also describes the ways in which--despite being painted as a backward continent--African industries were more sophisticated than European ones. The Portuguese were especially covetous of textiles and metalwork Africans produced using complex techniques unknown in Europe. The author effectively argues that these early beginnings shaped the modern era all the way to African independence movements in the World War II era. This meticulously researched book eloquently debunks conventional understanding of European conquest. While each page is so densely packed with facts that it sometimes feels more like a textbook than creative nonfiction, French's underlying argument and accompanying cogent analysis make for essential reading for anyone looking to decolonize their understanding of the Western world. A fascinating retelling of modern history that restores Africa to its rightful place. COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. "
Language:
English
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