Julia Gaffield is associate professor of history at William & Mary. She is the author of Haitian Connections in the Atlantic World: Recognition after Revolution. She lives in Williamsburg, VA.

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2025“Absorbing.”—Sudhir Hazareesingh, Times Literary Supplement2025 HSA Book Prize Honorable Mention, sponsored by the Haitian Studies AssociationReceived honorable mention from the 2026 Boucher Book Prize, sponsored by the French Colonial Historical Society“At last, a biography of Jean‑Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian par excellence, the only hero of Independence to enter the Vodou pantheon! Julia Gaffield reconstructs the life of the father of the country with exhaustive research and easy‑to‑read prose that avoids value judgments while reflecting a sympathy for her subject that courses through the book.”—Jean Casimir, Université d’État d’Haïti“Charting Dessalines’s remarkable journey from enslavement to leadership of a revolutionary army and radical anticolonial nation‑state, Gaffield probes his character and contradictions more carefully than any scholar before her, offering brilliant insights into the political history of warfare, statecraft, and the struggle for human freedom.”—Vincent Brown, author of Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War“Julia Gaffield’s long‑awaited biography of Jean‑Jacques Dessalines paints a compelling portrait of one of Haiti’s most enigmatic leaders, a formerly enslaved man who became the nation’s first head of state. Based on prodigious new research, this fascinating book is also propulsively readable. A stunning achievement.”—Ada Ferrer, Princeton University“Beautifully and brilliantly told, this story of revolution, power, and political imagination challenges long-standing misrepresentations and powerfully illuminates the intertwined thought and action through which Dessalines reshaped the world.”—Laurent Dubois, author of Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution

Julia Gaffield is associate professor of history at William & Mary. She is the author of Haitian Connections in the Atlantic World: Recognition after Revolution. She lives in Williamsburg, VA.

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2025“Absorbing.”—Sudhir Hazareesingh, Times Literary Supplement2025 HSA Book Prize Honorable Mention, sponsored by the Haitian Studies AssociationReceived honorable mention from the 2026 Boucher Book Prize, sponsored by the French Colonial Historical Society“At last, a biography of Jean‑Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian par excellence, the only hero of Independence to enter the Vodou pantheon! Julia Gaffield reconstructs the life of the father of the country with exhaustive research and easy‑to‑read prose that avoids value judgments while reflecting a sympathy for her subject that courses through the book.”—Jean Casimir, Université d’État d’Haïti“Charting Dessalines’s remarkable journey from enslavement to leadership of a revolutionary army and radical anticolonial nation‑state, Gaffield probes his character and contradictions more carefully than any scholar before her, offering brilliant insights into the political history of warfare, statecraft, and the struggle for human freedom.”—Vincent Brown, author of Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War“Julia Gaffield’s long‑awaited biography of Jean‑Jacques Dessalines paints a compelling portrait of one of Haiti’s most enigmatic leaders, a formerly enslaved man who became the nation’s first head of state. Based on prodigious new research, this fascinating book is also propulsively readable. A stunning achievement.”—Ada Ferrer, Princeton University“Beautifully and brilliantly told, this story of revolution, power, and political imagination challenges long-standing misrepresentations and powerfully illuminates the intertwined thought and action through which Dessalines reshaped the world.”—Laurent Dubois, author of Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution

Julia Gaffield is associate professor of history at William & Mary. She is the author of Haitian Connections in the Atlantic World: Recognition after Revolution. She lives in Williamsburg, VA.

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2025“Absorbing.”—Sudhir Hazareesingh, Times Literary Supplement2025 HSA Book Prize Honorable Mention, sponsored by the Haitian Studies AssociationReceived honorable mention from the 2026 Boucher Book Prize, sponsored by the French Colonial Historical Society“At last, a biography of Jean‑Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian par excellence, the only hero of Independence to enter the Vodou pantheon! Julia Gaffield reconstructs the life of the father of the country with exhaustive research and easy‑to‑read prose that avoids value judgments while reflecting a sympathy for her subject that courses through the book.”—Jean Casimir, Université d’État d’Haïti“Charting Dessalines’s remarkable journey from enslavement to leadership of a revolutionary army and radical anticolonial nation‑state, Gaffield probes his character and contradictions more carefully than any scholar before her, offering brilliant insights into the political history of warfare, statecraft, and the struggle for human freedom.”—Vincent Brown, author of Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War“Julia Gaffield’s long‑awaited biography of Jean‑Jacques Dessalines paints a compelling portrait of one of Haiti’s most enigmatic leaders, a formerly enslaved man who became the nation’s first head of state. Based on prodigious new research, this fascinating book is also propulsively readable. A stunning achievement.”—Ada Ferrer, Princeton University“Beautifully and brilliantly told, this story of revolution, power, and political imagination challenges long-standing misrepresentations and powerfully illuminates the intertwined thought and action through which Dessalines reshaped the world.”—Laurent Dubois, author of Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution