Island on Fire, Tom Zoellner
Island on Fire, Tom Zoellner
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Island on Fire
The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire

Author: Tom Zoellner

Narrator: Mirron Willis

Unabridged: 10 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/20/2020


Synopsis

From a New York Times bestselling author, a gripping account of the slave rebellion that led to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.For five horrific weeks after Christmas in 1831, Jamaica was convulsed by an uprising of its enslaved people. What started as a peaceful labor strike quickly turned into a full-blown revolt, leaving hundreds of plantation houses in smoking ruins. By the time British troops had put down the rebels, more than a thousand Jamaicans lay dead from summary executions and extrajudicial murder.While the rebels lost their military gamble, their sacrifice accelerated the larger struggle for freedom in the British Atlantic. The daring and suffering of the Jamaicans galvanized public opinion throughout the empire, triggering a decisive turn against slavery. For centuries bondage had fed Britain’s appetite for sugar. Within two years of the Christmas rebellion, slavery was formally abolished.Island on Fire is a dramatic day-by-day account of this transformative uprising. A skillful storyteller, Tom Zoellner goes back to the primary sources to tell the intimate story of the men and women who rose up and tasted liberty for a few brief weeks. He provides the first full portrait of the rebellion’s enigmatic leader, Samuel Sharpe, and gives us a poignant glimpse of the struggles and dreams of the many Jamaicans who died for liberty.

About Tom Zoellner

Tom Zoellner is the author of Uranium, Train, and The Heartless Stone and coauthor of the New York Times bestselling An Ordinary Man. He teaches at Chapman University and Dartmouth College and is the politics editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books.

About Mirron Willis

Mirron Willis has narrated over 200 audiobooks across various literary genres and has won several Earphone Awards for Excellence and is an Audie Award finalist and winner. Notable works include Ginny Gall by Charlie Smith, The Smokey Dalton Series by Kris Nelscott; My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte; The Long Fall (Booklist, Best of 2009) and others by Walter Mosley; Uncle Tom's Cabin, Elijah of Buxton, The Translator; and Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B Dubois. In three seasons at the Ensemble Theatre (Houston, Texas), Mirron appeared as JP in What I Learned in Paris, Malcolm X in The Meeting, Henry in Race, and as Countee Cullen in Knock Me a Kiss (2013 Giorgee Award for Best Leading Actor). Other roles include Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry VI Parts 2 & 3, and A Raisin in the Sun with the world-renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has also performed as guest narrator with the Houston Symphony. Film and TV guest appearances include Criminal Minds, Private Practice, The Exes, Monk, 24, Seinfeld, Cheers, The Parkers, Living Single, E.R., Star Trek, and Independence Day, among others. Mirron resides and records audiobooks on his family's historic ranch in East Texas.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Diana

Jamaican history for laypeople i.e. not overly academic, but accessible, and compelling. Reads like a novel. Incredible clarity about the events and political forces that brought about the end of enslavement in Jamaica. Sam Sharpe’s bravery, cunning, grit, and steadfastness are so clearly drawn. Read i......more

Goodreads review by Alex

There are many insidious myths about slavery. One of them is that the slaves did not fight back or "chose" to be slaves. Another is that slavery was largely benevolent and "everyone" was ok with slavery until "everyone" was an abolitionist. This is a mythbusting history book with value to historical......more

Goodreads review by Mythili

A detailed, careful telling of a crucial episode from British history that I knew next to nothing about. One of the tricky parts about slave histories, as Zoellner explains in detail, is the lack of written accounts from the perspective of slaves. But this book does its best to make a complete pictu......more

Goodreads review by Karwan

Great combination of historical retelling of the revolt and historiographical positioning in the abolition debate.......more


Quotes

“Zoellner’s vigorous, fast-paced account brings to life a varied gallery of participants.” Wall Street Journal

“Impressively researched, this is a valuable addition to Jamaica’s documented history.” Southern California News Group

“Resurrecting this important historical episode, Zoellner moves nimbly through the research, giving an exciting account of the events as well as the significant consequences.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Zoellner makes deft use of primary sources and illustrates how the atmosphere of energetic political reform and events like Sharpe’s rebellion converged to end slavery in the ‘agricultural prison camp’ of Jamaica and in the British Empire at large.” New Yorker

“Narrator Mirron Willis relates the history with talent and skill.” AudioFile

“A highly readable but carefully documented account of the greatest of all British slave rebellions, the miseries that led to it, and the momentous changes it wrought.” Adam Hochschild, New York Times bestselling author

“Acutely relevant to the racial unrest of our own time. Island on Fire is impeccably researched and seductively readable.” Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls’ Rising


Awards

  • National Book Critics Circle Award
  • #1 Amazon bestseller