African Founders

How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals

By: David Hackett Fischer

Narrated by: Lamarr Gulley

Length: 35 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

In this sweeping, foundational work, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer draws on extensive research to show how enslaved Africans and their descendants enlarged American ideas of freedom in varying ways in different regions of the early United States.

African Founders explores the little-known history of how enslaved people from different regions of Africa interacted with colonists of European origins to create new regional cultures in the colonial United States. The Africans brought with them linguistic skills, novel techniques of animal husbandry and farming, and generations-old ethical principles, among other attributes. This startling history reveals how much our country was shaped by these African influences in its early years, producing a new distinctly American culture.

Drawing on decades of research, some of it in western Africa, Fischer recreates the diverse regional life that shaped the early American republic. He shows that there were varieties of slavery in America and varieties of new American culture, from Puritan New England to Dutch New York, Quaker Pennsylvania, cavalier Virginia, coastal Carolina, and Louisiana and Texas.

This landmark work of history will transform our understanding of America’s origins.

©2022 David Hackett Fischer. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Important book, flawed recording

The book covers how people from Africa influenced American history and culture. The author covers some of the horrors of slavery and many of the deep injustices, to put it mildly.

The weak point is the narration and recording. The narrator goes from excellent to jarring with his frequent accenting of random words. Without that, the narration would be really good. Also, the recording isn’t great due to obvious quality shifts in re-recording parts of the book. They are distracting.

Very dense and detailed book

A very long, dense and detailed book. As other books on slavery have highlighted, slavers were unique in their cruelty and brutality in their use of African bodies for profit. Under such bondage, it’s remarkable how often slaves fought for freedom and how resilient they were and succeeded in adding to the rich culture of this country.
The delivery takes getting used to, after which it becomes totally enjoyable. A monumental story telling, well researched and lucidly written.

Eye-opening companion to Albion's Seed

It's not that you must have read Fischer's earlier book, Albion's Seed, on the several English migrations to enjoy and appreciate this book, but I think it helps. As Fischer moves through the distinctive forms that slavery (and resistance to it) took in the various colonies, the interplay of cultures is as important as the particular persons, providing possibilities for action in one place that simply aren't found in another. The earlier book's rich descriptions help us understand the English side of these encounters, and to expect a similar variety on the African side.

But even without them, this book is full of stories and characters, accompanied by careful accounting for developments in custom and law, emancipation and education. We learn from what parts of the continent, and which of its peoples, the American colonies tended to receive Africans, in what numbers and under what conditions. We get a taste, and want to learn more, of how particular peoples were perceived, how they shaped not only their own life in bondage and into freedom, but how they affected those with whose position and power they had to reckon. Fischer's dispassionate portrayal of the cruelties of slavery makes all the more remarkable the impact and influence of these Africans on their new home.

A book that features speakers (not just names) from language groups both European and African demands much of the audiobook narrator. I greatly appreciated Lamarr Gulley's effort to give expression to the cultural and linguistic diversity of that world by rendering quotations in distinctive voices and accents. That, together with a voice that is both rich and clear, more than made up for a delivery whose cadence took a little getting used to.

Grateful to both author and narrator for this piece of our history.

it's American history

this was a really good book it covers all the different regions of slavery very good history listen

Insightful history, long time coming

Such an insightful treatise on the origins, roles, and genuine influences of Africans on American culture. I was taken by how clearly their local African origins have uniquely affected each American region in special ways. I walked away with an important new appreciation for the vast influence of a culture that broke through enslavement while simultaneously affecting the entire world..
This is a good companion piece to Fischer’s equally thorough history of British influence in America, Albion’s Seed.
Sadly, this book deserved a much better audio experience. For my ears ears, the reader simply doesn’t have the right cadence and presentation for this material. I found myself actively listening beyond his presentation to enjoy the writing. Also, the audio engineering on this recording is puzzling. The quality sways over and over between a smooth, even sound, to sections of distracting, louder volume with distortion. In all a disappointing technical and talent audio effort.

Wow!

This is an expansive scholarly work offering in depth, well researched insights and perspectives. An invaluable addition to Black history literature. Narrator is great, especially when rendering direct quotes.

African Founders - an outstanding narrative

A well researched and narrated book on the fundamental facts on the story of America. This needs to be a required reading in all primary schools in the US, and for that mater - the general public .

A must read for all Americans

Most of us truly don’t have ant idea how much we’ve gained from the Africans whir cake to us via enslavement. This incredible and comprehensive book provides this much needed education and understanding. Bravo !

Horrible Narration RUINED this Most Important Historical Work

Audible has done a HORRIBLE DISSERVICE to this essential work of American History! This atrocity merits a complete re-do. The narrator’s weird intonation, poor phrasing, terrible “accents”, and mispronunciation of names and common foreign words, was so distracting that he ruined the entire experience. What a disappointment! This is such an important work, and should have been treated more respectfully (as was done with Albion’s Seed by the same author). Audible and the narrator FAILED THIS BOOK AND LISTENERS.

faux vocalizations

This is one of those books that is good enough that I'm going to go out and pick up the printed book, but couldn't stand the narrator.

The narrator enunciated every syllable with perfect pronunciation obtained only through meticulous study and practice. It reminded me of when one speaks with a pretentious voice mocking the upper class---but I don't think that was the intent.

I listened to the first two chapters and found the story to be fascinating and well done. The book presents early black history in the colonies and Revolution in an informational manner.

It does not feel like a polemic about the evils of white America, but a very informative book about the forgotten role of black America.