Awakening the Ashes

“A magisterial recounting of Haiti’s intellectual history . . . . The book is the latest in Daut’s constellation of works on the Caribbean intellectual tradition, and Daut is herself one of the most dynamic contemporary voices on Haiti.”—Laurent Dubois, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Important and timely. . . . Awakening the Ashes is an overdue work of scholarship. In particular, Daut’s inclusion of theoretical Atlantic World frameworks helps scholars of African American history expand their archival source bases. This book merits the attention of students, scholars, and general readers.”—Journal of African American History

“In inspiring and remarkable fashion, Marlene L. Daut places her work in that esteemed lineage [of early Haitian writers] and insists on the importance of remembering not only the violence of the past but also the great thinkers and writers of nineteenth-century Haiti . . . [who] have shaped their own deeply complex ideas around race, culture, history, and politics. . . . [Daut] continues to at once honour that tradition and further it in the most impressive ways.”—French Studies

“Awakening the Ashes presents to readers unfamiliar with the extraordinarily rich tradition of Haitian critical historiography a text that demands rereading, clearly constituting an essential reference for scholars of the Haitian Revolution, postcolonial studies, and critical historiography more generally.”—American Historical Review

“Daut superbly captures how Haitians reflected on their self-created sovereignty amid endless French and American attempts to undermine and negate what the Haitians had so painfully achieved.”—CHOICE

“Daut has distinguished herself as both a perceptive catalyst for new scholarly thought and an architect for epistemological frameworks. She courageously illustrates the deficit in historical thinking regarding the place of Haiti in Atlantic world intellectual thought. She, likewise, carefully and painstakingly introduces Haitian writers to rearrange ideas and guide readers to satisfying places of fresh understanding . . . . a splendidly researched, richly enlightening journey of early Haitian poetry, novels, newspapers, and political and historical writings that relocates Haiti at the center of nineteenth-century thought on liberty and equality.”—H-Diplo

“Awakening the Ashes will reside in a class of its own. . . . [A] splendidly researched, richly enlightening journey of early Haitian poetry, novels, newspapers, and political and historical writings that relocates Haiti at the center of nineteenth-century thought on liberty and equality.” —H-Diplo

“By exposing the intellectual contributions of nineteenth-century Haitian scholars and leaders to our modern understanding of freedom and equality, Daut shows the ongoing racism of current intellectual genealogies and offers a new way of thinking about the fields of colonial and postcolonial studies.”—Julia Gaffield, author of Haitian Connections in the Atlantic World: Recognition after Revolution

“Daut brings alive Haiti’s fascinating intellectual history and shows brilliantly how Haitian thinkers shaped the culture and politics of their own country even as they transformed broader understandings of race, revolution, and the writing of history. This powerful and necessary book challenges us to think differently about the global history of thought.”—Laurent Dubois, author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History