The Man Who Stole Himself

The Man Who Stole Himself PDF Author: Gisli Palsson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022631331X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Get Book Here

Book Description
The island nation of Iceland is known for many things—majestic landscapes, volcanic eruptions, distinctive seafood—but racial diversity is not one of them. So the little-known story of Hans Jonathan, a free black man who lived and raised a family in early nineteenth-century Iceland, is improbable and compelling, the stuff of novels. In The Man Who Stole Himself, Gisli Palsson lays out the story of Hans Jonathan (also known as Hans Jónatan) in stunning detail. Born into slavery in St. Croix in 1784, Hans was taken as a slave to Denmark, where he eventually enlisted in the navy and fought on behalf of the country in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen. After the war, he declared himself a free man, believing that he was due freedom not only because of his patriotic service, but because while slavery remained legal in the colonies, it was outlawed in Denmark itself. He thus became the subject of one of the most notorious slavery cases in European history, which he lost. Then Hans ran away—never to be heard from in Denmark again, his fate unknown for more than two hundred years. It’s now known that Hans fled to Iceland, where he became a merchant and peasant farmer, married, and raised two children. Today, he has become something of an Icelandic icon, claimed as a proud and daring ancestor both there and among his descendants in America. The Man Who Stole Himself brilliantly intertwines Hans Jonathan’s adventurous travels with a portrait of the Danish slave trade, legal arguments over slavery, and the state of nineteenth-century race relations in the Northern Atlantic world. Throughout the book, Palsson traces themes of imperial dreams, colonialism, human rights, and globalization, which all come together in the life of a single, remarkable man. Hans literally led a life like no other. His is the story of a man who had the temerity—the courage—to steal himself.

The Man Who Stole Himself

The Man Who Stole Himself PDF Author: Gisli Palsson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022631331X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Get Book Here

Book Description
The island nation of Iceland is known for many things—majestic landscapes, volcanic eruptions, distinctive seafood—but racial diversity is not one of them. So the little-known story of Hans Jonathan, a free black man who lived and raised a family in early nineteenth-century Iceland, is improbable and compelling, the stuff of novels. In The Man Who Stole Himself, Gisli Palsson lays out the story of Hans Jonathan (also known as Hans Jónatan) in stunning detail. Born into slavery in St. Croix in 1784, Hans was taken as a slave to Denmark, where he eventually enlisted in the navy and fought on behalf of the country in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen. After the war, he declared himself a free man, believing that he was due freedom not only because of his patriotic service, but because while slavery remained legal in the colonies, it was outlawed in Denmark itself. He thus became the subject of one of the most notorious slavery cases in European history, which he lost. Then Hans ran away—never to be heard from in Denmark again, his fate unknown for more than two hundred years. It’s now known that Hans fled to Iceland, where he became a merchant and peasant farmer, married, and raised two children. Today, he has become something of an Icelandic icon, claimed as a proud and daring ancestor both there and among his descendants in America. The Man Who Stole Himself brilliantly intertwines Hans Jonathan’s adventurous travels with a portrait of the Danish slave trade, legal arguments over slavery, and the state of nineteenth-century race relations in the Northern Atlantic world. Throughout the book, Palsson traces themes of imperial dreams, colonialism, human rights, and globalization, which all come together in the life of a single, remarkable man. Hans literally led a life like no other. His is the story of a man who had the temerity—the courage—to steal himself.

The Man Who Stole Himself

The Man Who Stole Himself PDF Author: Gisli Palsson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022631328X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Get Book Here

Book Description
Prologue: a man of many worlds -- The island of St. Croix -- "A house negro"--"The mulatto Hans Jonathan" -- "Said to be the secretary" -- Among the sugar barons -- Copenhagen -- A child near the royal palace -- "He wanted to go to war" -- The general's widow v. the mulatto -- The verdict -- Iceland -- A free man -- Mountain guide -- Factor, farmer, father -- Farewell -- Descendants -- The Jonathan family -- The Eirikssons of New England -- Who stole whom? -- The lessons of history -- Epilogue: biographies

Colonel Blood

Colonel Blood PDF Author: David C. Hanrahan
Publisher: History Press (SC)
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
This gripping tale of seventeenth-century England's most wanted man is set against the background of the civil wars in England and Ireland.

Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself

Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself PDF Author: John Ernest
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807888850
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

Get Book Here

Book Description
It is the most celebrated escape in the history of American slavery. Henry Brown had himself sealed in a three-foot-by-two-foot box and shipped from Richmond, Virginia, to Philadelphia, a twenty-seven-hour journey to freedom. In Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself, Brown not only tells the story of his famed escape, but also recounts his later life as a black man making his way through white American and British culture. Most important, he paints a revealing portrait of the reality of slavery, of the wife and children sold away from him, the home to which he could not return, and his rejection of the slaveholders' religion--painful episodes that fueled his desire for freedom. This edition comprises the most complete and faithful representation of Brown's life, fully annotated for the first time. John Ernest also provides an insightful introduction that places Brown's life in its historical setting and illuminates the challenges Brown faced in an often threatening world, both before and after his legendary escape.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much PDF Author: Allison Hoover Bartlett
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101140305
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the tradition of The Orchid Thief, a compelling narrative set within the strange and genteel world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him. Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit. John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be. John Gilkey is an obsessed, unrepentant book thief who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rare books from book fairs, stores, and libraries around the country. Ken Sanders is the self-appointed "bibliodick" (book dealer with a penchant for detective work) driven to catch him. Bartlett befriended both outlandish characters and found herself caught in the middle of efforts to recover hidden treasure. With a mixture of suspense, insight, and humor, she has woven this entertaining cat-and-mouse chase into a narrative that not only reveals exactly how Gilkey pulled off his dirtiest crimes, where he stashed the loot, and how Sanders ultimately caught him but also explores the romance of books, the lure to collect them, and the temptation to steal them. Immersing the reader in a rich, wide world of literary obsession, Bartlett looks at the history of book passion, collection, and theft through the ages, to examine the craving that makes some people willing to stop at nothing to possess the books they love.

Between History and Myth

Between History and Myth PDF Author: Bruce Lincoln
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022614092X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book Here

Book Description
Medieval accounts of how Norway was unified by its first king provide a lively, revealing, and wonderfully entertaining example of this process. Taking the story of how Harald Fairhair unified Norway in the ninth century as its central example, Bruce Lincoln illuminates the way a state's foundation story blurs the distinction between history and myth and how variant tellings of origin stories provide opportunities for dissidence and subversion as subtle - or not so subtle - modifications are introduced through details of character, incident, and plot structure.

The King of Confidence

The King of Confidence PDF Author: Miles Harvey
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316463582
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book Here

Book Description
The "unputdownable" (Dave Eggers, National Book award finalist) story of the most infamous American con man you've never heard of: James Strang, self-proclaimed divine king of earth, heaven, and an island in Lake Michigan, "perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City" (Kirkus) A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist for the Midland Authors Annual Literary Award A Michigan Notable Book A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of the Year "A masterpiece." —Nathaniel Philbrick In the summer of 1843, James Strang, a charismatic young lawyer and avowed atheist, vanished from a rural town in New York. Months later he reappeared on the Midwestern frontier and converted to a burgeoning religious movement known as Mormonism. In the wake of the murder of the sect's leader, Joseph Smith, Strang unveiled a letter purportedly from the prophet naming him successor, and persuaded hundreds of fellow converts to follow him to an island in Lake Michigan, where he declared himself a divine king. From this stronghold he controlled a fourth of the state of Michigan, establishing a pirate colony where he practiced plural marriage and perpetrated thefts, corruption, and frauds of all kinds. Eventually, having run afoul of powerful enemies, including the American president, Strang was assassinated, an event that was frontpage news across the country. The King of Confidence tells this fascinating but largely forgotten story. Centering his narrative on this charlatan's turbulent twelve years in power, Miles Harvey gets to the root of a timeless American original: the Confidence Man. Full of adventure, bad behavior, and insight into a crucial period of antebellum history, The King of Confidence brings us a compulsively readable account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.

The Man who Stole Midnight

The Man who Stole Midnight PDF Author: James Noble
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
ISBN: 1035847736
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1868, William Standing, a man shadowed by his history, is forced into thievery, taking a majestic horse that is half mustang, half Arabian. He returns to an unspeakable tragedy: his sister’s homestead ravaged by the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, a tribe notorious for their fearsome warfare, leaving only the children taken captive. Driven by desperation, Standing tracks the Cheyenne, witnessing the aftermath of their raids. In an unexpected confrontation, Standing proves his mettle, rescuing the children but surrendering the black horse to his adversaries. Just as hope dawns, the horse’s original owners emerge, leading to Standing’s harsh sentencing: twenty years in Georgia Penitentiary. His escape sparks a relentless search for the scattered children, now with distant kin. Joining Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show offers Standing a guise to move from town to town, yet the Pinkertons’ pursuit is unyielding. His quest is a tumultuous ride through the heart of a man’s indomitable spirit and the wild tapestry of the American frontier.

Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Gold)

Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Gold) PDF Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545281199
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book Here

Book Description
Master storyteller Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Honor novel, featuring his trademark humor and unique narrative voice, is now part of the Scholastic Gold line! Elijah of Buxton, recipient of the Newbery Honor and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. This edition includes exclusive bonus content!Eleven-year-old Elijah lives in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves near the American border. Elijah's the first child in town to be born free, and he ought to be famous just for that -- not to mention for being the best at chunking rocks and catching fish. Unfortunately, all that most people see is a "fra-gile" boy who's scared of snakes and tends to talk too much. But everything changes when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Now it's up to Elijah to track down the thief -- and his dangerous journey just might make a hero out of him, if only he can find the courage to get back home.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales PDF Author: Oliver Sacks
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684853949
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

Book Description
Explores neurological disorders and their effects upon the minds and lives of those affected with an entertaining voice.