Encyclopédie noire

“One of the most original books published about race, slavery, and the production of knowledge in recent years. . . . A wonderfully innovative and beautifully crafted volume, Encyclopédie noire will be useful to anyone interested in Caribbean slavery, biography, history, intellectual history, visual culture, book history, and translation studies in the Enlightenment era and Age of Revolutions.”—American Literary History

“In this beautifully written, brilliantly framed, painstakingly researched communal biography, Johnson makes critical interventions to Black studies, Atlantic history, and comparative literature. . . . It is the greatest book that I have read in a long time.”—Hispanic American Historical Review

“With her spectacular new book Encyclopédie noire: The Making of Moreau de Saint-Méry’s Intellectual World, Sara E. Johnson steps out as one of the most important voices in this field. Her book is groundbreaking in many regards . . . . a remarkable book, a must-read for anyone interested in the eighteenth century, in slavery, in biography, in intellectual history, in archives – or in history-writing in general. For a book that is so profoundly researched and theorized, it is also an outstanding read.”—Age of Revolutions

“Johnson upends our understanding of traditional Western archival sources by uncovering the formative intellectual labor of enslaved people behind their production. Writing about the life of the pro-slavery encyclopedist, lawyer, and deputy to the French National Assembly Moreau de Saint-Méry, Johnson exposes the esteemed Frenchman’s reliance on enslaved workers from whom he extracted labor, content, and expertise to fill his own archives and books . . . . the counter-biography of a man who made a business of knowledge production. ”—Public Books

“This book is also about the archives themselves—what we keep and what we discard—much in the way Moreau did with the enslaved peoples who dominated his work. To say that scholars of imperialism, slavery, race and gender, and France and its Black colonies will find much of value from Johnson’s work is an understatement. It is an astonishing piece of scholarship. . . . I can think of nothing more meaningful to say other than when graduate students approach me to understand a place like Saint Domingue, I am able to tell them that they should start with Sara E. Johnson.”—American Historical Review

“Scholars of colonial Caribbean history, and anyone concerned with how to research and write about slavery in that history, will find a lot to think about, and to teach their own students, in Encyclopédie noire.”—Early American Literature

“Bold and valuable . . . Encyclopédie noire is an important book because it exposes us to the full context of [Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry]’s career and life, not just the achievements he promoted. . . . It should be read by every scholar who relies on Moreau’s publications, on accounts published by French colonists, or on manuscript sources preserved in the Overseas Section of the French National Archives.”—H-Early-America

“Encyclopédie noire is an utterly original examination of the work and impact of Moreau—and so much more. Through gorgeous prose and meticulous close readings across a vast array of sources and languages, Johnson marginalizes Moreau to create a 'communal biography' that centers the lived experiences of the women and men he enslaved. Moving across disciplines and methodological boundaries to breathtaking effect, Johnson illuminates how the European Enlightenment and Black Atlantic were inextricable from each other. This book will forever change the way we think about the fields of both literary studies and history. This is the book we have been waiting for.”—Jennifer L. Morgan, New York University

“In this fascinating and important book, Sara Johnson transforms our understanding of one of the most influential figures in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. With deep research and innovative analysis, Johnson reveals that every aspect of Moreau’s career relied upon the stolen labor and—crucially—the stolen knowledge of enslaved and free people of color. Encyclopédie noire transcends biography to offer a profound meditation on the relationship between knowledge and power.” — Brett Rushforth, University of Oregon

“With utterly brilliant insight and beautiful prose, Sara Johnson unfolds, and essentially untells, the life of one of the most famous French colonial authors from the eighteenth century. In Johnson’s 'communal' retelling, it was Moreau’s status as an enslaver, with both a 'legitimate' (white) and ‘illegitimate’ (Black) family, that provided him with the luxury, capital, and leisure time to purchase the books and write the stories that have made him a legend in the print culture of the Haitian Revolution.” — Marlene L. Daut, Yale University