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American Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt. By Daniel Rasmussen. (New York: Harper, 2011. Pp. [x], 276. $26.99, ISBN 978-0-06-199521-7.)
First, the kudos. This compact book has several solid merits. It is well written. Author Daniel Rasmussen has a good eye for revealing detail. He turns a nice phrase and understands how to keep a narrative chugging along. Here and there one finds fresh insights. American Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt deserves praise for what it is: an outstanding senior thesis from Harvard University.
But how does it stack up as a book? It has problems.
The subject matter - the slave revolt of 1811, which took place three leagues upriver from New Orleans, on a ribbon of land known as the German Coast - is certainly compelling. Spilling from the shadows of the Haitian Revolution and the upheavals tearing asunder Spain's New World empire, the uprising was hands down the largest slave rebellion in American history. Over a three -day period commencing on January 8, 1811, approximately two dozen slaves swelled into a disciplined phalanx of 150 to 500 rebels who marched to the rhythm of heavy rain and beating drums through knee-deep mud toward New Orleans. First, a military force commanded by U.S. general Wade Hampton turned them back near present-day Kenner. Then, a planter militia, led by a large slaveholder who had barely escaped with his life (his son did...