Retired Chicago homicide detective Jack Starkey is living his retirement dream in Fort Myers Beach, a little town on Florida’s Southwest Gulf Coast, where he owns a bar called the Drunken Parrot and resides on a houseboat named Phoenix. Jack’s friend, Chicago Tribune police reporter William Stevens, writes a series of bestselling crime novels based upon Jack’s career and pays Jack to edit them to make certain all the cop stuff is right.But, every now and then, life in para...

Retired Chicago homicide detective Jack Starkey is living what he calls every cop’s retirement dream by owning a successful bar, the Drunken Parrot, and residing on a houseboat in Fort Myers Beach on Florida’s Southwest Gulf Coast.Mostly, it’s been working out just fine. Starkey’s drink of choice these days is diet root beer and not the hard stuff that ended his marriage and sent him into rehab. He’s dating the lovely Marisa Fernandez, who owns a real estate agency and supplements ...

William Wells Brown's Clotel or, The President's Daughter is often considered the first novel by an African-American. When the book was published, Brown himself was legally the property of someone else within the United States, having escaped from slavery in Kentucky when he was younger. In this story President Thomas Jefferson and his former mulatto mistress Currer have had two daughters together: Althesea and Clotel. When their master passes away, their relatively comfortable lives are s...

Excerpt: "More than two hundred years have elapsed since the first cargo of slaves was landed on the banks of the James River, in the colony of Virginia, from the West coast of Africa. From the introduction of slaves in 1620, down to the period of the separation of the Colonies from the British Crown, the number had increased to five hundred thousand; now there are nearly four million. In fifteen of the thirty-one States, Slavery is made lawful by the Constitution, which binds the several ...

The novel tells the story of Clotel, a mixed-race woman who is the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, and one of his slaves. The narrative explores the tragic and complex life of Clotel and her family as they navigate the harsh realities of slavery and racism in the United States. Clotel's story is used to illustrate the profound injustices and moral contradictions of slavery and its impact on individuals and families."Clotel" is notable for its portray...

The services rendered to science, to liberty, and to the intellectual character of the negro by Banneker, are too great for us to allow his name to sleep and his genius and merits to remain hidden from the world. Benjamin Banneker was born in the State of Maryland, in the year 1732, of pure African parentage; their blood never having been corrupted by the introduction of a drop of Anglo-Saxon. His father was a slave, and of course could do nothing towards the education of the child. The mo...

Clotelle: A Tale of the Southern States by William Wells Brown is a groundbreaking work of nineteenth-century American literature that combines powerful storytelling with profound social commentary. As one of the earliest novels published by an African American author, it offers a compelling exploration of race, freedom, family, and the moral contradictions of a society shaped by slavery. Set in the American South, the novel follows the intertwined lives of characters whose futures are dee...

Clotel by William Wells Brown is a groundbreaking work of American literature and one of the earliest novels published by an African American author. Combining historical insight, social commentary, and powerful storytelling, the novel offers a compelling examination of race, freedom, identity, and the human consequences of slavery in nineteenth-century America. The story follows the lives of individuals whose experiences are shaped by a society marked by inequality and deeply entrenched s...

Three Years in Europe by William Wells Brown is a compelling travel narrative and historical memoir that documents the author's experiences abroad during a formative period of his life. Written by one of the most important early African American writers and abolitionists, the book offers a unique perspective on nineteenth-century European society through the eyes of a formerly enslaved man who became a celebrated author and lecturer. The narrative follows Brown's journey across various Eur...

"My Southern Home: Or, the South and Its People" by William Wells Brown is a significant work that provides a vivid portrayal of life in the Southern United States from the perspective of an African American author and former slave. Brown's narrative combines personal experiences with social commentary, offering insights into the complexities of Southern society, including the institution of slavery and the resilience of its people. His eloquent prose captures the beauty of the Southern la...

Born a slave and kept functionally illiterate until he escaped at age nineteen, William Wells Brown refashioned himself first as an agent of the Underground Railroad and then as an antislavery activist and self-taught orator and author, eventually becoming a foundational figure of African American literature. His most ambitious work, Clotel; or, the President’s Daughter (1853), the first novel written by an African American, purports to be the history of Thomas Jefferson’s black d...

Clotel; or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States is an 1853 novel by United States author and playwright William Wells Brown about Clotel and her sister, fictional slave daughters of Thomas Jefferson. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.