American Uprising / Daniel Rasmussen / 317 p.

Daniel Rasmussen, a young white historian, retells the little known story of a massive slave rebellion held in January 1811 in Louisiana along the German Coast.

Slaves Kook, Quamana, and Charles Deslondes led a revolt of around 500 slaves by its brutal termination. They used Carnaval as the time to strike during the break from sugar cane cultivation and as a guise for clandestine meetings that would go relatively unnoticed.

This quick and fascinating read illuminates the story of this little-known slave revolt and its cover-up by Gen. William Claiborne, situated within the culture of the times, Southern slavery, and plot and intrigue of American annexation of West Florida. And it's all in HarperLuxe (larger print for those of us with weak eyes)!

For more information, visit the author's website: http://www.danrasmussen.net/

MERLIN: http://laurel.lso.missouri.edu/record=b8217690~S1

Ol' Prophet Nat/Daniel Panger/159 pp.

This book is a fictional retelling of the events surrounding an actual historical uprising of slaves in Southampton County, VA in 1831. The story is told in the form of a journal kept by Nat Turner, leader of the slave rebellion. As a young man, Turner felt called by God to do some great deed for his enslaved people. He experiences a number of "signs" (one of which we now know to have been an eclipse) which confirm for him that he has been chosen by God to lead the slaves in a revolt against the plantation owners. The book goes on to describe the actual events of the rebellion, interspersed with commentary written by Turner afterward as he waited in hiding for the white posse to come arrest him.
A very good fictional account of the story behind the actual historical events. Panger does a good job not only showing how such an uprising could have occurred, but also showing the reasons (fear, complacency, misplaced respect for their masters) that prevented many of the slaves from rising up along with Turner.