William Wells Brown: An African American Life

William Wells Brown: An African American Life

A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist 'Biography'

A groundbreaking biography of the most pioneering and accomplished African-American writer of the nineteenth century.
Born into slavery in Kentucky, raised on the Western frontier on the farm adjacent to Daniel Booneâ‚¬s, â‚¬Å“rentedâ‚¬Â out in adolescence to a succession of steamboat captains on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the young man known as â‚¬Å“Sandyâ‚¬Â reinvented himself as â‚¬Å“William Wellsâ‚¬Â Brown after escaping to freedom. He lifted himself out of illiteracy and soon became an innovative, widely admired, and hugely popular speaker on antislavery circuits (both American and British) and went on to write the earliest African American works in a plethora of genres: travelogue, novel (the now canonized Clotel), printed play, and history. He also practiced medicine, ran for office, and campaigned for black uplift, temperance, and civil rights.
Ezra Greenspanâ‚¬s masterful work, elegantly written and rigorously researched, sets Brownâ‚¬s life in the richly rendered context of his times, creating a fascinating portrait of an inventive writer who dared to challenge the racial orthodoxies and explore the racial complexities of nineteenth-century America.
30 illustrations
Country USA
Brand W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer W. W. Norton & Company
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 9780393240900
ReleaseDate 2014-10-06
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
EANs 9780393240900

Country	USA
Brand	W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer	W. W. Norton & Company
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	9780393240900
ReleaseDate	2014-10-06
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9780393240900

William Wells Brown: An African American Life

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