James Alexander Dun, “Dangerous Neighbors: Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America” (U. Penn Press, 2016)

James Alexander Dun is an assistant professor of history at Princeton University. His book Dangerous Neighbors: Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) provides a detailed examination of how the Haitian Revolution shaped Americans view of their own revolution, their relations with both England and France, and left an imprint on the domestic ideological battles between Federalists and Republicans. Philadelphia, a center for antislavery activity and a stage for revolutionary ideas, was actively engaged in trade with the French colony of Saint Domingue. Newspapers, letters, and eyewitness accounts from merchant ships provide a window into how the Haitian Revolution influenced domestic politics. People and ideas from Saint Domingue flooded the city dividing citizens over the meaning of rebellion, revolution, freedom and slavery. Dun has deciphered complex events and shown how Haiti became a symbol of all that was right and wrong in the revolutionary Atlantic.

Lilian Calles Barger, www.lilianbarger.com, is a cultural, intellectual and gender historian. Her current book project is entitled The World Come of Age: Religion, Intellectuals and the Challenge of Human Liberation.

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