About the Author

Cassandra Pybus holds the Australian Research Council Chair of History at the University of Tasmania. An award-winning author who has written ten books, she is a frequent Fulbright professor and international fellow at American universities.

Reviews

"Through her meticulous research and an engaging narrative, Pybus provides a superb collective biography of those slaves during the American Revolution who dared to pursue their dreams of freedom. This book would be an appropriate addition to either African-American History or Revolutionary War collections."—Clark E. Heath (AASL) Southfield Lathrup High School, Lathrup Village, MI

"This book shines because of Ms. Cassandra Pybus’s stellar research. Her description of the upheaval surrounding the American Revolution is sound . . . Cassandra Pybus’s book adds much needed historical documentation to a group of people who have largely been forgotten by history. Every school and public library should own a copy of this book."—Christina Maria Beaird (PLA), Plainfield Public Library District, Plainfield, IL

"An impressive and extremely important work."
-Library Journal, starred review

"A significant contribution to contemporary studies of the Black Atlantic."
-Publishers Weekly

"What a gripping narrative . . . [and] an awesome achievement."--Alfred F. Young, author of The Shoemaker and the Tea Party

This gripping and enlightening book traces the steps of 32 fugitive slaves who fled their American colonial masters at the onset of the American Revolution and sought refuge from the British. Pybus (history, Univ. of Tasmania; The Woman Who Walked to Russia) explains in vivid and eloquent prose how these fugitives struggled for civil and human rights before, during, and after their escapes. Upon arriving in England, some ex-slaves remained in London and strove for a better life for themselves and their families there. Some were unfairly tried for petty crimes and sentenced to banishment to the experimental penal colony established in Australia at Botany Bay, where they faced conditions reminiscent of their slavery in America. Others were exiled to Freetown in West Africa, where they once again struggled for independence. Unfortunately, there are occasional gaps in these stories, but the periodic lack of detail is justifiable owing to the paucity of reliable primary sources available. This is still an impressive and extremely important work. Readers will obtain a much greater understanding of an aspect of the American Revolution that finally gets some much-deserved scholarship. Highly recommended for all libraries.-Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina, Thomas Cooper Lib., Columbia Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"Through her meticulous research and an engaging narrative, Pybus provides a superb collective biography of those slaves during the American Revolution who dared to pursue their dreams of freedom. This book would be an appropriate addition to either African-American History or Revolutionary War collections."-Clark E. Heath (AASL) Southfield Lathrup High School, Lathrup Village, MI

"This book shines because of Ms. Cassandra Pybus's stellar research. Her description of the upheaval surrounding the American Revolution is sound . . . Cassandra Pybus's book adds much needed historical documentation to a group of people who have largely been forgotten by history. Every school and public library should own a copy of this book."-Christina Maria Beaird (PLA), Plainfield Public Library District, Plainfield, IL

"An impressive and extremely important work."
-Library Journal, starred review

"A significant contribution to contemporary studies of the Black Atlantic."
-Publishers Weekly

"What a gripping narrative . . . [and] an awesome achievement."--Alfred F. Young, author of The Shoemaker and the Tea Party