Jefferson's Muslim Fugitives

In this meticulously researched book, the literary scholar Jeffrey Einboden connects the threads of Islamic captivity to the career of Thomas Jefferson. Two key Arabic-language documents lie at this work's center. The first was a petition Jefferson, as minister to France, received in 1785 from Richard O'Brien, an American enslaved in North Africa. The second was two short petitions from African Muslim captives enslaved in Kentucky, sent to President Jefferson in 1807. In both cases Jefferson expressed concern but secured no one's release. Surrounding these documents are more familiar narratives about the Barbary Wars, Aaron Burr's purported attempts to seize America's western territories, and less familiar correspondence between Jefferson and literary scholars interested in Arabic literature. Einboden's research is painstaking. He traces connections between obscure and famous individuals, mostly preserved in documentary records scattered across archives. The most unique, tantalizing evidence is the Arabic writing in the treaties between Arabic-speaking

Arabic · Archaeology · Art · Islam · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Classics · History · Philosophy