A Scribner Classics edition of Charles Johnson's masterpiece, winner
of the National Book Award--"a novel in the tradition of Billy Budd
and Moby-Dick...heroic in proportion...fiction that hooks the mind"
(The New York Times Book Review).
It is 1830. Rutherford Calhoun, a newly freed slave and irrepressible
rogue, is desperate to escape unscrupulous bill collectors and an
impending marriage to a priggish schoolteacher. He jumps aboard the
first boat leaving New Orleans, the Republic, a slave ship en route to
collect members of a legendary African tribe, the Allmuseri. Thus begins
a daring voyage of horror and self-discovery.
Peopled with vivid and unforgettable characters, nimble in its interplay
of comedy and serious ideas, this dazzling modern classic is a perfect
blend of the picaresque tale, historical romance, sea yarn, slave
narrative, and philosophical novel.