The Slave-Trader's Letter-Book by Jim Jordan

The Slave-Trader's Letter-Book by Jim Jordan

In 1858 Savannah businessman Charles Lamar, in violation of U.S. law, organized the shipment of hundreds of Africans on the luxury yacht Wanderer to Jekyll Island, Georgia. The four hundred survivors of the Middle Passage were sold into bondage. This was the first successful documented slave landing in the United States in about four decades and shocked a nation already on the path to civil war.

In 1886 the North American Review published excerpts from thirty of Lamar's letters from the 1850s, reportedly taken from his letter book, which describe his criminal activities. However, the authenticity of the letters was in doubt until very recently. In 2009, researcher Jim Jordan found a cache of private papers belonging to Charles Lamar's father, stored for decades in an attic in New Jersey. Among the documents was Charles Lamar's letter book, confirming him as the author. The Lamar documents, including the Slave-Trader's Letter Book, are now at the Georgia Historical Society and are available for research.

This book has two parts. The first recounts the flamboyant and reckless life of Lamar himself, including Lamar's involvement in southern secession, the slave trade, and a plot to overthrow the government of Cuba. A portrait emerges at odds with Lamar's previous image as a savvy entrepreneur and principled rebel. Instead, we see a man who was often broke and whose volatility sabotaged him at every turn. His involvement in the slave trade was driven more by financial desperation than southern defiance. The second part presents the Slave-Trader's Letter-Book. Together with annotations, these seventy long-lost letters shed light on the lead-up to the Civil War from the remarkable perspective of a troubled, and troubling, figure.

Jordan, Jim: - In Washington, Jim Jordan is revered as one of the most dogged investigators of government scandal and corruption, relentlessly fighting for the truth, no matter how tough the odds. Raised in rural western Ohio, he trained tirelessly to become one of the greatest amateur wrestlers in the nation at the University of Wisconsin, then went on to coach another generation of world-class athletes at the Ohio State University, while also earning a master's degree, before entering the political ring. On the mat, Jim Jordan beat some of the best wrestlers the world has ever seen; in politics that same tenacity has earned him victories at the highest levels of government.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780820351964
ISBN 10	0820351962
Titel	The Slave-Trader's Letter-Book
Autor	Jim Jordan
Serie	Uncivil Wars Series
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Hardback
Verlag	University of Georgia Press
Erscheinungsjahr	2018-01-30
Seitenanzahl	352
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.