Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography, credited to John Relly, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography, by John Relly Beard. Read by James K. White. François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743-1803) rose to fame in 1791 during the Haitian struggle for independence. In this revolt, he led thousands of slaves on the island of Hispañola to fight against the colonial European powers of France, Spain and England. The former slaves ultimately established the independent state of Haiti and expelled the Europeans. L'Ouverture eventually became the governor and Commander-In-Chief of Haiti before recognizing and submitting to French rule in 1801. In June of 1802, L'Ouverture was arrested by French forces and taken to France where he was imprisoned at Joux. There he penned his autobiography "... to render to the French government an exact account of my conduct." L'Ouverture died in prison on April 7, 1803 from pneumonia. Although L'Ouverture died a captive of the French, the revolution he led was historically perhaps the most significant world event opposing slavery. It precipitated a re-examination--among the major European powers as well as those in the new world--of the right of all mankind to be free and self-governing. John Relly Beard, an English minister, wrote The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture and published it in London in 1853. Ten years later, the biography was re-published and augmented to include L'Ouverture's 35-page translated autobiography--along with other documents and contributions by public officials--and was re-published in Boston. This reconstituted edition was titled, Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography. (Introduction by James K. White)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography
• Author credits: John Relly
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 31
• Listed recording duration: 13:38:38

Catalogue topics

• audio book
• black
• slavery
• abolition
• history
• Haiti
• Caribbean

Opening tracks: first 24 of 31

1. 00 - Introduction and Preface — 8:41
2. 01 - Book I, Chapter I — 24:21
3. 02 - Book I, Chapter II — 15:26
4. 03 - Book I, Chapter III — 14:43
5. 04 - Book I, Chapter IV — 20:56
6. 05 - Book I, Chapter V — 19:08
7. 06 - Book I, Chapter VI — 24:36
8. 07 - Book I, Chapter VII — 21:22
9. 08 - Book I, Chapter VIII — 23:26
10. 09 - Book I, Chapter IX — 24:23
11. 10 - Book I, Chapter X — 28:18
12. 11 - Book I, Chapter XI — 23:39
13. 12 - Book I, Chapter XII — 20:48
14. 13 - Book I, Chapter XIII — 29:58
15. 14 - Book 1, Chapter XIV — 17:41
16. 15 - Book II, Chapter I — 15:57
17. 16 - Book II, Chapter II — 18:13
18. 17 - Book II, Chapter III — 26:48
19. 18 - Book II, Chapter IV — 24:20
20. 19 - Book II, Chapter V — 19:12
21. 20 - Book II, Chapter VI — 24:25
22. 21 - Book II, Chapter VII — 35:49
23. 22 - Book III, Chapter I — 18:08
24. 23 - Book III, Chapter II — 43:21

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.