The Interesting Narative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Title: The Interesting Narative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Author: Olaudah Equiano
Recommended by: Who knows?

I can't really remember how I got my hands on this book, but it was really interesting. Olaudah Equiano was an African who was taken into the slave trade in 1760. He was a slave in the area around the virgin islands, and worked as a sailor for his master until he earned his freedom, and took to being a freeman sailor, and finally moved to England where he wrote this book.

The book is about his life, and he wrote it to speak on some of the terrible things he'd seen in the course of it. He makes the point that slavery should be banned though he never makes a formal case against it, he lets his witness speak. It really made me think a lot about the condition of the world then, and that slavery wasn't only bad because it made people unequal, but it also poisoned the minds and actions of people. Olaudah talks about times when as a freeman he is almost taken back into slavery, or how people would cheat him and steal his goods, because a freeman didn't really have rights protected by law.

Other than that, there's a lot of talk about his time on different boats, and how the sailing life was. The author also explains his coming to the christian faith in steps throughout his life.

One of my goals this year is to read more biographies, and I feel that autobiographies usually have a feel to them like the author is making much of himself, but this account seems a exercise in humility, because Olaudah never makes much of his own actions, but seems a faithful observer of the things going on around him.

Recommendation: 9/10, It's pretty short, and turns the wheels.