The Fortunes of Francis Barber

The Fortunes of Francis Barber PDF Author: Michael Bundock
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300213905
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
This compelling book chronicles a young boy’s journey from the horrors of Jamaican slavery to the heart of London’s literary world, and reveals the unlikely friendship that changed his life. Francis Barber, born in Jamaica, was brought to London by his owner in 1750 and became a servant in the household of the renowned Dr. Samuel Johnson. Although Barber left London for a time and served in the British navy during the Seven Years’ War, he later returned to Johnson’s employ. A fascinating reversal took place in the relationship between the two men as Johnson’s health declined and the older man came to rely more and more upon his now educated and devoted companion. When Johnson died he left the bulk of his estate to Barber, a generous (and at the time scandalous) legacy, and a testament to the depth of their friendship. There were thousands of black Britons in the eighteenth century, but few accounts of their lives exist. In uncovering Francis Barber’s story, this book not only provides insights into his life and Samuel Johnson’s but also opens a window onto London when slaves had yet to win their freedom.

The Fortunes of Francis Barber

The Fortunes of Francis Barber PDF Author: Michael Bundock
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300213905
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book

Book Description
This compelling book chronicles a young boy’s journey from the horrors of Jamaican slavery to the heart of London’s literary world, and reveals the unlikely friendship that changed his life. Francis Barber, born in Jamaica, was brought to London by his owner in 1750 and became a servant in the household of the renowned Dr. Samuel Johnson. Although Barber left London for a time and served in the British navy during the Seven Years’ War, he later returned to Johnson’s employ. A fascinating reversal took place in the relationship between the two men as Johnson’s health declined and the older man came to rely more and more upon his now educated and devoted companion. When Johnson died he left the bulk of his estate to Barber, a generous (and at the time scandalous) legacy, and a testament to the depth of their friendship. There were thousands of black Britons in the eighteenth century, but few accounts of their lives exist. In uncovering Francis Barber’s story, this book not only provides insights into his life and Samuel Johnson’s but also opens a window onto London when slaves had yet to win their freedom.

The Fortunes of Francis Barber

The Fortunes of Francis Barber PDF Author: Michael Bundock
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300260960
Category : Blacks
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
The story of the extraordinary relationship between a former slave and England's most distinguished man of letters

The Fortunes of Francis Barber

The Fortunes of Francis Barber PDF Author: Michael Bundock
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300207107
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book

Book Description
The story of the extraordinary relationship between a former slave and England's most distinguished man of letters This compelling book chronicles a young boy's journey from the horrors of Jamaican slavery to the heart of London's literary world, and reveals the unlikely friendship that changed his life. Francis Barber, born in Jamaica, was brought to London by his owner in 1750 and became a servant in the household of the renowned Dr. Samuel Johnson. Although Barber left London for a time and served in the British navy during the Seven Years' War, he later returned to Johnson's employ. A fascinating reversal took place in the relationship between the two men as Johnson's health declined and the older man came to rely more and more upon his now educated and devoted companion. When Johnson died he left the bulk of his estate to Barber, a generous (and at the time scandalous) legacy, and a testament to the depth of their friendship. There were thousands of black Britons in the eighteenth century, but few accounts of their lives exist. In uncovering Francis Barber's story, this book not only provides insights into his life and Samuel Johnson's but also opens a window onto London when slaves had yet to win their freedom.

Great Fortune

Great Fortune PDF Author: Daniel Okrent
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0142001775
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 561

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Book Description
In this hugely appealing book, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, acclaimed author and journalist Daniel Okrent weaves together themes of money, politics, art, architecture, business, and society to tell the story of the majestic suite of buildings that came to dominate the heart of midtown Manhattan and with it, for a time, the heart of the world. At the center of Okrent's riveting story are four remarkable individuals: tycoon John D. Rockefeller, his ambitious son Nelson Rockefeller, real estate genius John R. Todd, and visionary skyscraper architect Raymond Hood. In the tradition of David McCullough's The Great Bridge, Ron Chernow's Titan, and Robert Caro's The Power Broker, Great Fortune is a stunning tribute to an American landmark that captures the heart and spirit of New York at its apotheosis.

Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune PDF Author: Thane Gustafson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674066472
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 673

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Book Description
The world’s largest exporter of oil is facing mounting problems that could send shock waves through every major economy. Gustafson provides an authoritative account of the Russian oil industry from the last years of communism to its uncertain future. The stakes extend beyond global energy security to include the threat of a destabilized Russia.

Crossing the Bay of Bengal

Crossing the Bay of Bengal PDF Author: Sunil S. Amrith
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674728475
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
The Indian Ocean was global long before the Atlantic, and today the countries bordering the Bay of Bengal—India, Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia—are home to one in four people on Earth. Crossing the Bay of Bengal places this region at the heart of world history for the first time. Integrating human and environmental history, and mining a wealth of sources, Sunil Amrith gives a revelatory and stirring new account of the Bay and those who have inhabited it. For centuries the Bay of Bengal served as a maritime highway between India and China, and then as a battleground for European empires, all while being shaped by the monsoons and by human migration. Imperial powers in the nineteenth century, abetted by the force of capital and the power of steam, reconfigured the Bay in their quest for coffee, rice, and rubber. Millions of Indian migrants crossed the sea, bound by debt or spurred by drought, and filled with ambition. Booming port cities like Singapore and Penang became the most culturally diverse societies of their time. By the 1930s, however, economic, political, and environmental pressures began to erode the Bay’s centuries-old patterns of interconnection. Today, rising waters leave the Bay of Bengal’s shores especially vulnerable to climate change, at the same time that its location makes it central to struggles over Asia’s future. Amrith’s evocative and compelling narrative of the region’s pasts offers insights critical to understanding and confronting the many challenges facing Asia in the decades ahead.

A Tale of Two Plantations

A Tale of Two Plantations PDF Author: Richard S. Dunn
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674735366
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 553

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Book Description
Richard Dunn reconstructs the lives of three generations of slaves on a sugar estate in Jamaica and a plantation in Virginia, to understand the starkly different forms slavery took. Deadly work regimens and rampant disease among Jamaican slaves contrast with population expansion in Virginia leading to the selling of slaves and breakup of families.

Hereditary Genius

Hereditary Genius PDF Author: Sir Francis Galton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Genius
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description


The Age of Johnson

The Age of Johnson PDF Author: Jack Lynch
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1684483018
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Volume 24 features commentary on a range of Johnsonian topics: his reaction to Milton, his relation to the Allen family, his notes in his edition of Shakespeare, his use of Oliver Goldsmith in his Dictionary, and his always fascinating Nachleben. The volume also includes articles on topics of strong interest to Johnson: penal reform, Charlotte Lennox's professional literary career, and the "conjectural history" of Homer in the eighteenth century.

The Art of Smuggling

The Art of Smuggling PDF Author: Francis Morland
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781908479853
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Francis Morland was one of Britain's most brilliant young artists, a leading member of the 1960s 'New Generation' movement beside such future giants as David Hockney. At the same time he lived a remarkable secret life: as the first major drug trafficker in UK history. He stuffed his sculptures full of Lebanese cannabis to ship to the US, sailed hashish from Morocco to Europe and, years before Howard Marks, became the most important dope runner in the country. But the drug squad found him, arresting him in 1971, 1980, 1990 and 2000. Now 81, he teaches ceramic classes.