The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe - Hardcover

Daut, Marlene L

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300283857 ISBN 13: 9780300283853

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2025

Synopsis

The dramatic story of a pivotal figure in the Haitian Revolution, who shook the Atlantic world to its core

Born to an enslaved mother in Grenada, Henry Christophe first fought to overthrow the British in North America, before joining the Black freedom fighters of Saint-Domingue in their quest to gain independence from France. But, at one point, Christophe turned his back on the revolutionaries to side with Napoleon's forces―only to later fight against them, afterward becoming Haiti's first and only king. 
 
In this remarkable account, Marlene L. Daut shows how Christophe became by turns revolutionary, traitor and monarch. Why did he turn his back on Toussaint Louverture? Was Christophe involved in the assassination of Haiti’s first ruler, Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines? And how did Christophe ultimately become king of the people he had betrayed?
 
The First and Last King of Haiti is the ultimate story of power and ambition in the age of revolutions―and shows how one extraordinary life shaped the course of nations. 

About this title

About the Author

Marlene L. Daut is Professor of French and African Diaspora Studies at Yale University, and the author of several books including Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300283857
• ISBN 13: 9780300283853
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 656