The slumbering volcano : American slave ship revolts and the production of rebellious masculinity /

"A white feminist," as the author describes herself, has examined the "racialist and gendered discourse" of a score of years beginning in 1839. Her approach derives from studies of gender and colonialism. Sale places strong emphasis on the heritage of the American Revolution, with its declaration that all men are created equal, and holds up for examination how this "revolutionary trope" figured in the search for understanding the ways slavery shaped US national identity. Shipboard rebellions in particular prompted discussion of the role of black slaves in the nation. One line of thought omitted dark-skinned people and discerned national destiny in the hands of the "Anglo-American race." A second saw slavery lifting all white men to equality and liberty. The Amistad affair and the case of the Creole raised such questions as whether slaves were property or persons; nationless; or entitled to the right of revolution. Herman Melville and Frederick Douglass entered the discourse with Benito Cereno and The House Slave, respectively. The book is marked by intensive and ingenious explication of texts. Not easy reading, it is suitable for specialists. J. A. Rawley; University of Nebraska--Lincoln