Master of the Crossroads: A Novel - Hardcover

Bell, Madison Smartt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375420568 ISBN 13: 9780375420566

Publisher: Pantheon, 2000

Synopsis

The critically acclaimed author of All Souls' Rising provides a fictional account of the life and times of Toussaint Louverture, a gifted military and political leader who embarked on a campaign to free the slaves in late-eighteenth-century Haiti in the French colony of Saint Domingue. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

" Like the best and rarest of historical fictions, it goes well beyond the limitations of its setting. . . . With its exploration of racial hatred and the possibilities of reconciliation, it reads like a distillation of our own troubling times." - "The Washington Post"
" A brilliant performance, the work of an accomplished novelist of peculiar energy and courage. . . . One puts down Master of the Crossroads with a visceral knowledge of what it felt like to wage war in Haiti at the turn of the nineteenth-century." - "The New York Times Book Review"
" Fiction in the grandest, most ambitious form. . . . Often the prose swaggers muscularly, reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy in the Border Trilogy; at other times it grows florid and surreal, in the vein of Gabriel Garcia Marquez." - "The Boston Globe"

" Bell has taught historians a thing or two about what it means to have an intimate relationship with the past. Throwing caution to the wind, he has taken up a little-known but hugely important subject with passion and conviction." - "Los Angeles Times"
" A stunning achievement: marvelously crafted, meticulous in its historical detail, magnificent in its sweep." --"The Seattle Times"
" [A] rich novel. . . . Its huge tapestry of scenes on battlefields and plantations, in ranches and churches, vibrantly reanimates Bell's cast of real and fictional characters. . . . [Toussaint] is now one of the great characters in modern literature." --"San Francisco Chronicle"
" An absorbing and . . . majestic read. . . . [Bell] could not have chosen a more resonant setting thanHaiti, nor found a more telling figure in whom to summon contemporary hopes and fears." --"Chicago Tribune"
" This meticulously researched novel has the feel of a tableau by Delacroix: a generous swirl of individual and collective fervor." --"The New Yorker"
" A fascinating tale. . . . Bell rides his near-perfect prose style through the terrain of the human psyche with astonishing ease." --"The Philadelphia Inquirer"
" Bell has learned well the lessons of [Tolstoy]. . . . [The] human drama of families, lovers and individual quests for self-knowledge envelops the reader in a brilliant blend of history and fiction." --"The Portland Oregonian"
" Atmospheric, well-researched, and well-written. . . . The unfolding of Haitian history is a fascinating tale, and Bell tells it with great skill." --"The Pittsburgh Post Gazette"
" Provides a history lesson that tells us much about our present and, perhaps, constitutes a warning for our future." --"The Miami Herald"
" Read this novel to get a feel of life and death in the midst of one of the New World's major political and military uprisings . . . in this trilogy we find the talented Madison Smartt Bell at the crossroads of his career." --"The Dallas Morning News"

"Like the best and rarest of historical fictions, it goes well beyond the limitations of its setting. . . . With its exploration of racial hatred and the possibilities of reconciliation, it reads like a distillation of our own troubling times." -The Washington Post

"A brilliant performance, the work of an accomplished novelist of peculiar energy and courage. . . . One puts down Master of the Crossroads with a visceral knowledge of what it felt like to wage war in Haiti at the turn of the nineteenth-century." -The New York Times Book Review

"Fiction in the grandest, most ambitious form. . . . Often the prose swaggers muscularly, reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy in the Border Trilogy; at other times it grows florid and surreal, in the vein of Gabriel Garcia Marquez." -The Boston Globe

"Bell has taught historians a thing or two about what it means to have an intimate relationship with the past. Throwing caution to the wind, he has taken up a little-known but hugely important subject with passion and conviction." -Los Angeles Times

"A stunning achievement: marvelously crafted, meticulous in its historical detail, magnificent in its sweep." --The Seattle Times

"[A] rich novel. . . . Its huge tapestry of scenes on battlefields and plantations, in ranches and churches, vibrantly reanimates Bell's cast of real and fictional characters. . . . [Toussaint] is now one of the great characters in modern literature." --San Francisco Chronicle

"An absorbing and . . . majestic read. . . . [Bell] could not have chosen a more resonant setting than Haiti, nor found a more telling figure in whom to summon contemporary hopes and fears." --Chicago Tribune

"This meticulously researched novel has the feel of a tableau by Delacroix: a generous swirl of individual and collective fervor." --The New Yorker

"A fascinating tale. . . . Bell rides his near-perfect prose style through the terrain of the human psyche with astonishing ease." --The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Bell has learned well the lessons of [Tolstoy]. . . . [The] human drama of families, lovers and individual quests for self-knowledge envelops the reader in a brilliant blend of history and fiction." --The Portland Oregonian

"Atmospheric, well-researched, and well-written. . . . The unfolding of Haitian history is a fascinating tale, and Bell tells it with great skill." --The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

"Provides a history lesson that tells us much about our present and, perhaps, constitutes a warning for our future." --The Miami Herald

"Read this novel to get a feel of life and death in the midst of one of the New World's major political and military uprisings . . . in this trilogy we find the talented Madison Smartt Bell at the crossroads of his career." --The Dallas Morning News

About the Author:

Madison Smartt Bell is the author of eleven previous works of  fiction, including All Souls' Rising, which was a National Book Award finalist; Save Me, Joe Louis; Dr. Sleep; Soldier's Joy; and Ten Indians. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pantheon
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0375420568
• ISBN 13: 9780375420566
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 752