The experiences of Africans in the Old World--the Mediterranean and Islamic worlds, is followed by their movement into the New, where their plight in lands claimed by Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French and English colonial powers is analyzed from enslavement through the Cold War. Particular attention is paid to the everyday lives of the working classes and their cultural development. Their exploits, challenges, and struggles are covered over a broad time frame that links as well as differentiates past and present circumstances.
Contents
Part I. 'Old' World Dimensions: 1. Antiquity; 2. Africans and the Bible; 3. Africans and the Islamic world; Part II. 'New' World Realities: 4. Transatlantic movement; 5. Enslavement; 6. Asserting the right to be; 7. Reconnecting; 8. Movement of peoples.
Reviews
"An outstanding synthesis of the history of the African diaspora. Well conceived, argued, and written in an engaging style, Reversing Sail will be indispensable in courses on the peoples of Africa and its diaspora. Specialists, students, and the general reader will find this book intellectually stimulating and enlightening."
- Colin Palmer, Dodge Professor of History, Princeton University
"With commanding scholarship both broad and deep, and with a style that is at once engaging and impeccable in its judgment, Michael Gomez’s Reversing Sail fulfills a long-standing need for a synoptic history of the African Diaspora. Synthesizing the best of classical and contemporary scholarship, Gomez provides a powerful interpretive framework that situates and links the African Diaspora at every step with the movement of world history. Reversing Sail is much more than a textbook, but it is also one that will challenge and inspire teachers and students by the new standard set by what is a landmark work."
- Robert A. Hill, Professor of History and Editor-in-Chief, The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers, UCLA
"...a tour de force of decades of scholarship on the African Diaspora... an accessible, though current and sophisticated text summarizing the historical concept of the African Diaspora...."
- H-Atlantic , Jeffrey A. Fortin, History Department, University of New Hampshire
"This volume is an excellent addition to the rapidly growing number of books on the African Diaspora and a fine introductory text that will be greatly appreciated by students new to the field." - Larry Hudson, University of Rochester
"One of the text's greatest strengths is that it shows that the people affected by the African Diaspora were not passive participants. Rather they actively responded to their changing situation and worked hard to protect themselves, their families, and their friends in the new circumstances in which they found themselves. This becomes even more evident as Gomez explores the development of race within the second section of the work and how race redefined the place of Africans within the developing Atlantic world. As an undergraduate text, the work serves an important role in that it provides a general history while raising questions that a class could explore and debate." - Ty M. Reese, Department of History, University of North Dakota, H-NET
Printer friendly version
Email a colleague