Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. and the Atlantic World - by Daniel L Schafer (Paperback)

About the Book

A biography of Zephaniah Kingsley Jr., merchant, African slave trader, ship captain, plantation owner, slave master, miscegenist, polygamist, and, later, partial supporter of abolition and founder of a colony in Haiti for free persons of color.

Book Synopsis

This biography tells the story of Zephaniah Kingsley Jr., a
controversial figure who owned a Florida plantation in the early
American Republic

Review Quotes

"Kingsley
is indeed a puzzling figure, and a fascinating one. He was an adventurer, slave
trader, businessman and gimcrack social philosopher. . . . Schafer brings this
forgotten man to life."--Wall Street Journal

"A
comprehensive, accurate, and objective biography of this prominent early
Floridian, effectively situating the story within a larger narrative involving
antebellum social mores, plantation management, and the economics of slavery."--Library
Journal

"Brings
to life the man Kingsley with all his flaws, contradictions and genius for success,
placing him in the context of the turbulent times known as the 'Age of
Revolution' that intermittently convulsed both sides of the Atlantic."--Florida
Times-Union

"A
deeply researched biography of a truly exceptional but complex man whose life
both reflected and helped to redefine the changing Atlantic worlds that he
occupied."--The Historian

"Illustrates
just how complex, interconnected and surprising the eighteenth-century Atlantic
world could be for the men and women who circulated around it and helped shape
it. . . . [A] richly textured and well-written biography."--Slavery and
Abolition