Edited and with Notes by Shelly Eversley
Introduction by Robert Reid-Pharr
In this truly astonishing eighteenth-century memoir, Olaudah Equiano
recounts his remarkable life story, which begins when he is kidnapped in
Africa as a boy and sold into slavery and culminates when he has
achieved renown as a British antislavery advocate. The narrative "is a
strikingly beautiful monument to the startling combination of skill,
cunning, and plain good luck that allowed him to win his freedom, write
his story, and gain international prominence," writes Robert Reid-Pharr
in his Introduction. "He alerts us to the very concerns that trouble
modern intellectuals, black, white, and otherwise, on both sides of the
Atlantic."
The text of this Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the
definitive ninth edition of 1794, reflecting the author's final changes
to his masterwork.