Rough Crossings - by Simon Schama (Paperback)

About the Book

Tens of thousands of blacks in America at the start of the Revolutionary War escaped from farms, plantations, and cities to reach the British who offered the promise of emancipation in return for military service. Schama follows their odyssey through the war and into inhospitable Nova Scotia where thousands were betrayed.

Book Synopsis

"The most dramatic account so far of the extraordinary expeience of slaves in and after the American Revolution. . . . Schama's gift for plunging us into the very center of the action makes reading an exhilarating and often moving experience."--Daily Telegraph

If you were black in America at the start of the Revolutionary War, whom would you want to win? In response to a declaration by the last governor of Virginia that any rebel-owned slave who escaped and served the King would be emancpated, tens of thousands of blacks voted with feet, escaping to fight beside the British. Originally designed to break the plantations of the American South, this military strategy instead unleashed one of the great exoduses in American history.

Told in the voices of the slaves and the white abolitionists who aided them, Simon Schama vividly details the odyssey of these escaped blacks, shedding light on an extraordinary chapter in America's birth.

Rough Crossings reveals a forgotten front of the Revolutionary War, where the fight for freedom was truly a matter of life and death--and the sides were not as clear as we've been told.

• A Forgotten History: Discover why tens of thousands of enslaved people risked everything to side with the British, seeing King George III, not the Founding Fathers, as their potential liberator.
• The Founding Fathers' Dilemma: Uncover the "dirty little secret" of the Revolution as prominent Patriots like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson watch their own enslaved workers flee to fight against the American cause.
• From Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone: Follow the dramatic, often tragic journey of the Black Loyalists from the battlefields of the South to the harsh settlements of Nova Scotia and, for some, a return to Africa to found a new colony of free people.
• Narrative History at its Finest: Through the vivid, immersive storytelling that has made Simon Schama a master of the genre, this account is told through the diaries, letters, and records of the people who lived it.

From the Back Cover

If you were black in America at the start of the Revolutionary War, which side would you want to win?

When the last British governor of Virginia declared that any rebel-owned slave who escaped and served the king would be emancipated, tens of thousands of slaves fled from farms, plantations, and cities to try to reach the British camp. A military strategy originally designed to break the plantations of the American South had unleashed one of the great exoduses in U.S. history. With powerfully vivid storytelling, Schama details the odyssey of the escaped blacks through the fires of war and the terror of potential recapture, shedding light on an extraordinary, little-known chapter in the dark saga of American slavery.

Review Quotes

"A master storyteller." - Newsweek

"Nations need luck in their historians, as with everything else, and in Simon Schama, Britain--not to mention America, where he lives and works--has hit the jackpot. With dash and cunning, Mr Schama follows his leading characters into the shadow that falls across his story...If it is true that history is not the past--merely what we have now instead of the past--then we must tip our caps to Mr. Schama for reminding us of the grotesque events whose scars still sting today, more than a century afterwards." - The Economist

"If there's a better living writer of history than Simon Schama, I'd sure like to know who it is." - Cleveland Plain Dealer

". . .plenty of gorgeous writing from this most elegant of stylists." - Christian Science Monitor

"Schama tells this complex story through a series of richly drawn, idiosyncratic individuals, from musical bureaucrats to rebellious slaves." - San Diego Union-Tribune

"Schama captures the remarkable drama of these 18th century Africans, whose lives included such pain and tragedy. For those looking for something more acerbic than yet another hagiography about the Founding Fathers, Schama offers an impressive and challenging alternative." - USA Today

"Brilliantly re-creates the histories of runaway slaves in and after the American revolution." - Sunday Times (London)

"A lively and accessible book." - Newsday

"British historian Schama . . . [breathes] life into both the big geopolitical picture and the individual horrors of the economic system in which human beings were 'sold, like groceries, by the pound.'" - Entertainment Weekly

" Schama is back at his best -and historians don't come much better than that. - Sunday Times (London)