Description
Book SynopsisThis collection of compact biographies puts a human face on the sweeping historical processes that shaped contemporary societies throughout the Atlantic world. Focusing on life stories that represented movement across or around the Atlantic Ocean from 1500 to 1850, The Human Tradition in the Atlantic World, 15001850 explores transatlantic connections by following individuals whose experience took them far beyond their local communities to new and unfamiliar places. A formidable barrier, the Atlantic Ocean profoundly influenced the lives it touched. For some brave or desperate souls, it offered an escape, a source of adventure or romance. For countless others, it provided a steady source of income. For those who voluntarily undertook the voyage, crossing the Atlantic meant hope for a better, happier life; for the millions of less-fortunate others who relocated because they had been enslaved, tricked, or banished, the Atlantic was a sea of sorrow and loss. Yet, whatever the reason, treme
Trade ReviewA refreshing counterpoint to the existing literature, The Human Tradition in the Atlantic World helps us understand at the individual level how the Atlantic was shaped. Featuring sixteen men and women who not only crossed the ocean, but traversed imperial, cultural, and linguistic barriers, this collection admirably illustrates the entangled and dynamic nature of the Atlantic world. -- Wim Klooster, Clark University
This collection introduces a vibrant array of individual lives that Atlantic history might have otherwise forgotten. The contributors to this volume have revealed Jewish translators, Indian visionaries, African entrepreneurs, Iroquois emissaries, and revolutionary men (and women) of color that were part of a dazzling, multicultural Atlantic. Scholars and students will be able to follow the intersecting human itineraries of the Atlantic world like never before. -- Neil Safier, University of British Columbia; author of Measuring the New World: Enlightenment Science and South America
Approaching the interconnected Atlantic world through the experiences of individuals of many different ranks and positions, as these essays do, draws students in and gives them more direct access to the kinds of skills and risk-taking that made that world function. -- Karen Ordahl Kupperman, New York University
The Human Tradition in the Atlantic World is packed with exemplary lives that can only be appreciated in an Atlantic context. These are not textbook heroes, but rather ordinary people caught in the slipstream of Atlantic history in the Age of Sail. Their stories, so well told here, bring this transformative era to life—they give it flesh and bones. -- Kris Lane, College of William & Mary
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Human Tradition in the Atlantic World Karen Racine and Beatriz G. Mamigonian Chapter 1: Catarina Álvares Paraguaçu (1510s–1582): Indian Visionary in Brazil and France Joan Meznar Chapter 2: John Billington and His Family (c. 1582–1630): Doomed "Knave" of Plymouth Plantation John Navin Chapter 3: Samuel Cohen (c. 1600–1642): Jewish Translator in Brazil, Curaçao, and Angola Mark Meuwese Chapter 4: William Lamport/Guillén de Lombardo (c. 1611–1659): Mexico's Irish Would-Be King Sarah Cline Chapter 5: Jacob Leisler (1640–1691): German-Born Governor of New York Noah L. Gelfand Chapter 6: Hendrick/Tiyanoga/Theyanoguen (1680–1755): Iroquois Emissary to England Troy Bickham Chapter 7: Sir William Johnson (1715–1774): English Emissary to the Iroquois Gail Danvers MacLeitch Chapter 8: Henry "Harry" Washington (1750s–1790s): A Founding Father's Slave Cassandra Pybus Chapter 9: Julien Raimond (1744–1801): Planter, Revolutionary, and Free Man of Color in Saint-Domingue John Garrigus Chapter 10: Anne Pépin (1758–1837): Entrepreneur, Landlady, and Mixed-Race Signare in Senegal Mark Hinchman Chapter 11: João da Silva Feijó (1760–1824): Brazilian Scientist in the Portuguese Overseas Empire Magnus Roberto de Mello Pereira, Translated by Ana Maria Rufino Gillies with assistance from Ian Robert Gillies Chapter 12: Juan Antonio Olavarrieta (1765–1822): Basque Cleric and Libertine Rebel in Mexico Andrew B. Fisher Chapter 13: Eliza Fenwick (1766–1840): Feminist Slave Owner in Barbados Olwyn M. Blouet Chapter 14: Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (1785–1879): Napoleon's American Sister-in-Law Charlene Boyer Lewis Chapter 15: James MacQueen (1778–1870): Agent of Imperial Change in the Caribbean and Africa Jeff Pardue Chapter 16: William Bullock: (1773–1849): British Museum Curator and Showman in Mexico Robert D. Aguirre Recommended Reading Filmography
