The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History - Hardcover

Colley, Linda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 037542153X ISBN 13: 9780375421532

Publisher: Pantheon, 2007

Synopsis

Conceived in Jamaica and possibly of mixed race, Elizabeth Marsh (1735-1785) traveled farther and was more intimately affected by developments across the globe than the vast majority of men. She was the first woman to publish in English on Morocco, and the first to carry out extensive explorations in eastern and southern India. A creature of multiple frontiers, she spent time in London, Menorca, Rio de Janeiro, and the Cape of Africa. She speculated in Florida land, was caught up in the French and Indian War, was linked to voyages to the Pacific, and was enmeshed as victim or owner in three different systems of slavery.
She was also a crucial part of far larger histories. Marsh's experiences would have been impossible without her links to the Royal Navy, the East India Company, imperial warfare, and widening international trade. To this extent, her career illumines shifting patterns of Western power and overseas aggression. Yet the unprecedented expansion of connections across continents occurring during her lifetime also ensured that her ideas and personal relationships were shaped repeatedly by events and people beyond Europe: by runaway African slaves; Indian weavers and astronomers; Sephardic Jewish traders; and the great Moroccan sultan, Sidi Muhammad, who schemed to entrap her.

About this title

Review:

'A fascinating read...there is nothing unremarkable about this woman, or about her colourful story in Linda Colley's quite superb biography.' The Scotsman

'This is a remarkable book, both for its contents and because it is a new species of biography...Linda Colley has written a full-blown economic romance with an extraordinary range...bringing all the resources of her skills as a historian
and researcher to her story. It is a major achievement and an enthralling narrative'. The Guardian

‘Compelling...exhilarating...as a work of big history illustrated with brilliant minatures it is a triumph.’ Sunday Times

'Stimulating and impressive...this is a remarkable life.' Financial Times

‘A minor miracle of biographical reconstruction...a fine historian.’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Fascinating...brilliant...important.’ The Independent

'Immensely detailed but immaculately organised...her book is a work of skewering historical precision and vast imaginative reach...Colley's style of irreproachable clarity makes light work of the global complexities of her story. Her synthesis of the facts is masterly...her book is both moving and profound.' Hilary Mantel, London Review of Books

About the Author:

Linda Colley is the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pantheon
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 037542153X
• ISBN 13: 9780375421532
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400