The title of Nesbitt's book on the impact of the Enlightenment on the Haitian Revolution is misleading. One expects a detailed retelling of the events leading up to the declaration of that nation's independence. But the author's purpose is not to retell the major events of this struggle: he treats Toussaint L'Ouverture and Napoleon here in only the most cursory manner. Instead, Nesbitt (French, Univ. of Aberdeen) has written a complex, fascinating analysis of how the Haitian Revolution reflected the most radical ideas of European Enlightenment, which, when imposed in the Caribbean, forever transformed the colonial context. Nesbitt suggests that when the more radical notions of Enlightenment authors (from Spinoza to Robespierre) were absorbed in this most unlikely of settings, the result was not only a total rejection of elite power structures in favor of universal egalitarianism, but a precocious land reform program that eschewed the plantation structure (despite Toussaint's orders that everyone work for the state). Notwithstanding today's perception of Haiti as impoverished and violent, Nesbitt considers its history an intellectual and philosophical triumph. Although polemical, this highly original work transcends the usual interpretations of the Haitian Revolution and gives new significance to the meaning of this ultra-important struggle.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. -- CHOICE.