Book description
The true story of David Henry White, a free Black teenage sailor enslaved on the high seas during the Civil War, whose life story was falsely and intentionally appropriated to advance the Lost Cause trope of a contented slave, happy and safe in servility.
David Henry White, a free Black…
Why read it?
1 author picked Kidnapped at Sea as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
The combat experience of teenager David Henry White turns upside down most assumptions we make about Black combat experience during the American Civil War. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that a full-length book had been attempted about a figure briefly sketched in Raphael Semmes’ memoir.
My excitement was repaid when I discovered, to my great satisfaction, how Andrew Sillen corrected and contextualized Semmes’ fabricated account of White’s short, tragic experience aboard globe-trotting CSS Alabama. The careful account conveys as much as it can about the backstory of this free Black seafarer, who was drowned, after 600 days of…
From Robert's list on The best American Civil War books that cross the globe.
If you love Kidnapped at Sea...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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