Hangman; Provost; Bill Richmond; Nathan Hale; Aedes aegypti; René-Robert Cavalier de La Salle; voyageurs; Nika; slaves; Louis Joliet; Jacques Marquette; Native Americans; King Louis XIV
Synopsis
The mosquito explains the development and spread of yellow fever. Nathan Hale explains how French explorers made a sketchy claim to the Louisiana Territory.
Hangman; Provost; Bill Richmond; Nathan Hale; Aedes aegypti; slaves; Napoleon Bonaparte; French rebels; François Mackandal; Lenormand de Mezy; tutor
Synopsis
Nathan Hale pairs the story of Napoleon (excelling at military matters, while helping put down rebellions in France) with that of François Mackandal (kidnapped and sold in Saint-Domingue, then having a hand chopped off in a sugar mill accident).
So far we've had a lot of beheadings, amputations, and torture in this story.
Genre
non-fiction; history
Characters
Hangman; Provost; Bill Richmond; Nathan Hale; slaves; Haitian rebels; Toussaint L'Ouverture; Jean-Jacques Dessalines; white Haitians; Affranchis; Léger-Félicité Sonthonax; Étienne Polverel; General Pierrot
Synopsis
Santhonax and Polverel arrive as commissioners from France, determined to end slavery and establish equality. They join the rebels against the white planters and the new French governor. Toussaint L'Ouverture rises to command the army, and proclaims a republic.
Hangman; Provost; Bill Richmond; Nathan Hale; Pauline Bonaparte [Pauline Leclerc]; General Charles Leclerc; French soldiers; Haitian soldiers; Toussaint L'Ouverture; Isaac L'Ouverture; Placide L'Ouverture; Jean-Jacques Dessalines; Aedes aegypti; white Haitians
Synopsis
Napoleon sends his sister and brother-in-law to negotiate with the Haitians and reassert French overlordship. But while Leclerc kidnaps and exiles Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Haitians continue to resist fiercely -- rightly so, as Napoleon then orders the restoration of slavery. Leclerc dies, along with hundreds of his soldiers, from yellow fever.
Hangman; Provost; Bill Richmond; Nathan Hale; Vicompte de Rochambeau; French soldiers; Haitian soldiers; Jean-Jacques Dessalines
Synopsis
Napoleon sends Rochambeau to reconquer the former colony, but he fails. After more than 400,000 dead in the final campaign, Dessalines proclaims an independent Haiti.
Hangman; Provost; Bill Richmond; Nathan Hale; Pauline Bonaparte [Pauline Leclerc]; Thomas Jefferson; Robert Livingston; James Monroe; Marquis de Barbé-Marbois
Synopsis
With 40% of America's economy dependent on New Orleans, President Jefferson is desperate to acquire it from the French. With the failure of his Haitian invasion, Napoleon now considers New Orleans untenable. Vastly exceeding their orders, Livingston and Monroe leap at the opportunity to buy the entire Louisiana Territory.
Hangman; Nathan Hale; Bill Richmond; René-Robert Sieur de La Salle; Aedes aegypti; Léger Félicité Sonthonax; Toussaint L'Ouverture; Jean-Jacques Dessalines; Robert Livingston; James Monroe; Queen Luisa (Spain); King Charles IV (Spain); Manuel Godoy; Thomas Jefferson; Napoleon Bonaparte; Pauline Bonaparte [Pauline Leclerc)