This is a new in shrink-wrap leather-bound Easton Press edition of The Confessions of Nat Turner.

The powerful 1831 account of America's largest slave uprising, told in Nat Turner's own words… 

One of the most fascinating slave narratives in American history. 

The famous upraising of 1831 is recounted in the actual words of the man who led it, the confession Turner offered to lawyer Thomas Gray from his Virginia jail cell prior to his execution. 

Features vintage artwork and news articles related to the uprising. 

Hours before dawn on August 21, 1831, a Virginia slave named Nat Turner launched what would be America's most bloody and successful slave-rebellion. 

The insurrection was short-lived but its effects endure to this day, because in addition to its many white and African-American victims, the rebellion killed the myth of the 'contented' slave.  

Within days of Turner's execution, a volume appeared titled, The Confessions of Nat Turner, The Leader of the Late Insurrection in South Hampton, VA. 

As fully and voluntarily made to Thomas R. Gray. 

An account of the rebellion as told by the rebel leader himself, the publication is among the most provocative and important of all documents on slavery in America.  

A crucial historical document and literary classic. 

A slave-holding local lawyer who had represented some of the other rebels and had already written about the uprising, Thomas Ruffin Gray interviewed Turner as the slave awaited trial. 

Gray later read his transcript of the interview to Turner before witnesses, members of the county court who signed sworn statements that Turner acknowledged his 'confessions' “to be full, free, and voluntary.” 

Clearly biased in many ways, Gray nonetheless depicts Turner as literate, intelligent, eloquent, and righteous, a complex and commanding figure who acted not out of any base motives but from a deep religious conviction.  

Although The Confessions of Nat Turner has proved eternally controversial, much like Turner himself, who has been demonized as a terrorist by some and hailed as a martyr by others, it is cherished as a truly indispensable historical document that preserves a definitive account of a watershed event and the unique voice and perspective of a remarkable slave leader.  

In addition to all of Thomas R. Gray's original 1831 text, the Collector Edition THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER features fascinating period news reports and 19th century illustrations. 

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