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The First and Last King of Haiti

The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe

Author Marlene L. Daut On Tour
Read by Don Elivert
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On sale Jan 07, 2025 | 29 Hours and 20 Minutes | 9780593947203
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The essential biography of the controversial rebel, traitor, and only king of Haiti. Henry Christophe is one of the most richly complex figures in the history of the Americas, and was, in his time, popular and famous the world over: in The First and Last King of Haiti, a brilliant, award-winning Yale scholar unravels the still controversial enigma that he was.

Slave, revolutionary, traitor, king, and suicide, Henry Christophe was, in his time, popular and famous the world over. Born in 1767 to an enslaved mother on the Caribbean island of Grenada, Christophe first fought to overthrow the British in North America, before helping his fellow enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, as Haiti was then called, to gain their freedom from France. Yet in an incredible twist of fate, Christophe ended up fighting with Napoleon’s forces against the very enslaved men and women he had once fought alongside. Later, reuniting with those he had betrayed, he offered to lead them and made himself their king. But it all came to a sudden and tragic end when Christophe—after nine years of his rule as King Henry I—shot himself in the heart, some say with a silver bullet.

Why did Christophe turn his back on Toussaint Louverture and the very revolution with which his name is so indelibly associated?  How did it come to pass that Christophe found himself accused of participating in the plot to assassinate Haiti’s first ruler, Dessalines?  What caused Haiti to eventually split into two countries, one ruled by Christophe in the north, who made himself king, the other led by President Pétion in the south? 

The First and Last King of Haiti is a riveting story of not only geopolitical clashes on a grand scale but also of friendship and loyalty, treachery and betrayal, heroism and strife in an era of revolutionary upheaval.
“A fascinating, in-depth, and meticulously researched biography of Haiti’s revolutionary-turned-king.”
—EDWIDGE DANTICAT, author of Breath, Eyes, Memory

“Daut shows us, often for the first time, the various personal, cultural, political, and financial forces that created the controversial future king in all his complexity, as well as the specific contours of his leadership—and his failures. From a place of heartfelt agony, she deploys magnificent archival detective work to catalog the horrors of enslavement and the slave-based economy from which sprang the world-historic Haitian revolution, progenitor of the modern era.”
—AMY WILENTZ, author of The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier

“Daut’s monumental work conclusively demystifies one of the most misunderstood, romanticized, and demonized figures of the Haitian Revolution in order to set him free once more. This is an important, signal work from one of Haiti’s leading historians.”
—MYRIAM J. A. CHANCY, author of Harvesting Haiti: Reflections on Unnatural Disasters

“A tour de force. Daut brings King Henry Christophe vividly back to life in this deeply researched and rivetingly told biography. In a work overflowing with new archival discoveries and insights, she carries us expertly through a moment of revolutionary political thought and cultural transformation that reshaped our world and its possibilities. Everyone should know this history.”
—LAURENT DUBOIS, author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History

“A powerful biography of Henry Christophe, who fought for, defected from, and ultimately ruled over Haiti. . . . Christophe ... emerges in Daut’s telling as a complex figure in a world gripped by radical transformation. . . . The result is an expertly told and richly detailed reexamination of the revolutionary period.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“By clearly chronicling Christophe's complexstory with detail and nuanced analysis, Daut portrays a crucial, if little-known leader and traces the deep roots of Haiti's ongoing struggles.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“[Marlene] Daut, one of the foremost historians of Haiti, has penned a groundbreaking scholarly biography of Henry Christophe. . . . Daut’s research is outstanding. She has unearthed new sources in Caribbean and European archives, and she weighs all evidence carefully and reaches judicious conclusions. . . . A must-read for scholars.”
—Library Journal

“An impressively-researched biography.”
—Times Literary Supplement, “Books of the Year”

“As a narrative of the rise and fall of Henry Christophe ... [The First and Last King of Haiti] will likely stand as the definitive work for a long time to come.”
—American Scholar
© Dan Addison
MARLENE DAUT is Professor of French and African Diaspora Studies at Yale University. She teaches courses in anglophone, francophone Caribbean, African American, and French Colonial and historical studies.  She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Nation, Essence, and Harper’s Bazaar. She lives with her family in New Haven, Connecticut. View titles by Marlene L. Daut

About

The essential biography of the controversial rebel, traitor, and only king of Haiti. Henry Christophe is one of the most richly complex figures in the history of the Americas, and was, in his time, popular and famous the world over: in The First and Last King of Haiti, a brilliant, award-winning Yale scholar unravels the still controversial enigma that he was.

Slave, revolutionary, traitor, king, and suicide, Henry Christophe was, in his time, popular and famous the world over. Born in 1767 to an enslaved mother on the Caribbean island of Grenada, Christophe first fought to overthrow the British in North America, before helping his fellow enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, as Haiti was then called, to gain their freedom from France. Yet in an incredible twist of fate, Christophe ended up fighting with Napoleon’s forces against the very enslaved men and women he had once fought alongside. Later, reuniting with those he had betrayed, he offered to lead them and made himself their king. But it all came to a sudden and tragic end when Christophe—after nine years of his rule as King Henry I—shot himself in the heart, some say with a silver bullet.

Why did Christophe turn his back on Toussaint Louverture and the very revolution with which his name is so indelibly associated?  How did it come to pass that Christophe found himself accused of participating in the plot to assassinate Haiti’s first ruler, Dessalines?  What caused Haiti to eventually split into two countries, one ruled by Christophe in the north, who made himself king, the other led by President Pétion in the south? 

The First and Last King of Haiti is a riveting story of not only geopolitical clashes on a grand scale but also of friendship and loyalty, treachery and betrayal, heroism and strife in an era of revolutionary upheaval.

Reviews

“A fascinating, in-depth, and meticulously researched biography of Haiti’s revolutionary-turned-king.”
—EDWIDGE DANTICAT, author of Breath, Eyes, Memory

“Daut shows us, often for the first time, the various personal, cultural, political, and financial forces that created the controversial future king in all his complexity, as well as the specific contours of his leadership—and his failures. From a place of heartfelt agony, she deploys magnificent archival detective work to catalog the horrors of enslavement and the slave-based economy from which sprang the world-historic Haitian revolution, progenitor of the modern era.”
—AMY WILENTZ, author of The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier

“Daut’s monumental work conclusively demystifies one of the most misunderstood, romanticized, and demonized figures of the Haitian Revolution in order to set him free once more. This is an important, signal work from one of Haiti’s leading historians.”
—MYRIAM J. A. CHANCY, author of Harvesting Haiti: Reflections on Unnatural Disasters

“A tour de force. Daut brings King Henry Christophe vividly back to life in this deeply researched and rivetingly told biography. In a work overflowing with new archival discoveries and insights, she carries us expertly through a moment of revolutionary political thought and cultural transformation that reshaped our world and its possibilities. Everyone should know this history.”
—LAURENT DUBOIS, author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History

“A powerful biography of Henry Christophe, who fought for, defected from, and ultimately ruled over Haiti. . . . Christophe ... emerges in Daut’s telling as a complex figure in a world gripped by radical transformation. . . . The result is an expertly told and richly detailed reexamination of the revolutionary period.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“By clearly chronicling Christophe's complexstory with detail and nuanced analysis, Daut portrays a crucial, if little-known leader and traces the deep roots of Haiti's ongoing struggles.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“[Marlene] Daut, one of the foremost historians of Haiti, has penned a groundbreaking scholarly biography of Henry Christophe. . . . Daut’s research is outstanding. She has unearthed new sources in Caribbean and European archives, and she weighs all evidence carefully and reaches judicious conclusions. . . . A must-read for scholars.”
—Library Journal

“An impressively-researched biography.”
—Times Literary Supplement, “Books of the Year”

“As a narrative of the rise and fall of Henry Christophe ... [The First and Last King of Haiti] will likely stand as the definitive work for a long time to come.”
—American Scholar

Author

© Dan Addison
MARLENE DAUT is Professor of French and African Diaspora Studies at Yale University. She teaches courses in anglophone, francophone Caribbean, African American, and French Colonial and historical studies.  She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Nation, Essence, and Harper’s Bazaar. She lives with her family in New Haven, Connecticut. View titles by Marlene L. Daut

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