The Slaves’ Gamble

By Gene Allen Smith

Deal Ends: Tue 28th July

An "impressively researched," sweeping and original look at American slavery in the early nineteenth century that reveals the gamble slaves had to take to survive (The Christian Science Monitor).Images of American slavery conjure up cotton plantations and African American slaves locked in bondage until the Civil War. Yet early in the nineteenth century the state of slavery was very different, and the political vicissitudes of the young nation offered diverse possibilities to slaves. In the century's first two decades, the nation waged war against Britain, Spain, and various Indian tribes. Slaves played a role in the military operations, and the different sides viewed them as a potential source of manpower. While surprising numbers did assist the Americans, the wars created opportunities for slaves to find freedom among the Redcoats, the Spaniards, or the Indians. Author Gene Allen Smith draws on a decade of original research and his curatorial work at the Fort Worth Museum in this fascinating and original narrative history. The way the young nation responded sealed the fate of slaves for the next half century until the Civil War.This drama sheds light on an extraordinary yet little known chapter in the dark saga of American history."Engrossing. . . . Smith's exhaustive research reveals that black sailors played a significant if unheralded role in virtually all of the U.S. Navy's successes. . . . An important, lucid, often startling work of scholarship." ―The Dallas Morning News"Crisply told . . . Smith's first-rate study is a gripping tale of the evolution of race relations in early America." ―Publishers Weekly"Scholars, military history buffs, and students of the black experience will all find a reading of interest here." ―Daniel Walker Howe, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848