Maroon Nation: A History of Revolutionary Haiti Unavailable

Gonzales’ ambitious work demands the attention of scholars who study Atlantic revolutions, environmental history, and those interested in the growing field of global history. At the most general level, Maroon Nation widens the category of Maroons to include ex-slaves who defied oppressive, but disunited, military elites even after the abolition of slavery. Hundreds resisted a return to plantation work by running away. Others launched rebellions, setting fire to slave huts, sugar mills, and other essential components of the plantation infrastructure. The majority, however, sought escape in rural hillsides to stay independent of the new military state, depending primarily on their households and neighbors for subsistence. Some claimed land by squatting; some bought land; and others were gifted land for military loyalty. Villagers depended on West African Vodou and secret societies to satisfy spiritual needs and to establish new hierarchies. Indeed, in their patterns of settlement and culture, they may have...