Rough Crossings

The Slaves, the British, and the American Revolution

By: Simon Schama

Narrated by: Simon Schama

“The most dramatic account so far of the extraordinary expeience of slaves in and after the American Revolution. . . . Schama’s gift for plunging us into the very center of the action makes reading an exhilarating and often moving experience.”—Daily Telegraph

If you were black in America at the start of the Revolutionary War, whom would you want to win? In response to a declaration by the last governor of Virginia that any rebel-owned slave who escaped and served the King would be emancpated, tens of thousands of blacks voted with feet, escaping to fight beside the British. Originally designed to break the plantations of the American South, this military strategy instead unleashed one of the great exoduses in American history.

Told in the voices of the slaves and the white abolitionists who aided them, Simon Schama vividly details the odyssey of these escaped blacks, shedding light on an extraordinary chapter in America’s birth.

Great book but I had trouble following the Reader

This audiobook was read by the author (Simon Schama) and while it was a facinating 'read' and well worth the time, I found it hard to follow the audio because of the phrasing used. He seemed to read by phrase instead of sentences. Since many of his sentences were long it was difficult to keep the continuity with all the breaks in speech.

Even with this distraction though, I very much enjoyed all the detail he gave about the various people involved, and felt I'd learned quite a bit by the end. This is certainly and conspicuously missing from the history as we were taught it in school.

Great book

One of the best that I have ever listened to. Very well written and performed, very comprehensive and it was laid out logically and was easy to follow.

Great author, great reader.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely--a totally new perspective on African-American history in North America.

What did you like best about this story?

Learning something completely unexpected.

What does Simon Schama bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His delivery is fabulous, because he's both the author and an accomplished lecturer, so no nuance is missed.

Outstanding book

This is an outstanding book to listen to. It has high production values, in that the sound quality is good and the author, who also narrates, does an outstanding job. As for the book itself it touches on for me unknown and interesting incidents in American history as well as the fate of black loyalists who emigrate to Canada and then to Sierra Leone.

Simon Schama at his best

An eye-opening history of the enslaved people brought to the Americas. Highly recommended for anyone interested in British colonial history and that of the new world.