1st Edition

An Analysis of C.L.R. James's The Black Jacobins

By Nick Broten Copyright 2017
    104 Pages
    by Macat Library

    104 Pages
    by Macat Library

    Today we take it for granted that history is much more than the story of great men and the elites from which they spring. Other forms of history – the histories of gender, class, rebellion and nonconformity – add much-needed context and color to our understanding of the past. But this has not always been so. In CLR James’s The Black Jacobins, we have one of the earliest, and most defining, examples of how ‘history from below’ ought to be written.

    James's approach is based on his need to resolve two central problems: to understand why the Haitian slave revolt was the only example of a successful slave rebellion in history, and also to grasp the ways in which its history was intertwined with the history of the French Revolution. The book's originality, and its value, rests on its author's ability to ask and answer productive questions of this sort, and in the creativity with which he proved able to generate new hypotheses as a result. As any enduring work of history must be, The Black Jacobins is rooted in sound archival research – but its true greatness lies in the originality of James's approach.

    Ways in to the Text 

    Who was C.L.R. James?  

    What does The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution Say? 

    Why does The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution Matter? 

    Section 1: Influences 

    Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context 

    Module 2: Academic Context  

    Module 3: The Problem  

    Module 4: The Author's Contribution  

    Section 2: Ideas  

    Module 5: Main Ideas 

    Module 6: Secondary Ideas  

    Module 7: Achievement 

    Module 8: Place in the Author's Work  

    Section 3: Impact 

    Module 9: The First Responses  

    Module 10: The Evolving Debate 

    Module 11: Impact and Influence Today 

    Module 12: Where Next? 

    Glossary of Terms  

    People Mentioned in the Text 

    Works Cited

    Biography

    Nick Broten was educated at the California Institute of Technology and the London School of Economics. He is doing postgraduate work at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and works as an assistant policy analyst at RAND. His current policy interests include designing distribution methods for end-of-life care, closing labour market skill gaps, and understanding biases in risk-taking by venture capitalists.