On Wednesday, January 20th, at 6:30pm, Phoenix Books Rutland will host Jeffrey Amestoy for a talk on his new book, Slavish Shore: The Odyssey of Richard Henry Dana Jr.
In 1834, Harvard dropout Richard Henry Dana Jr. sailed to California as a common seaman. His account of the voyage, Two Years Before the Mast, quickly became an American classic. But literary acclaim could not erase the young lawyer’s memory of the brutal floggings he had witnessed aboard ship or undermine the vow he had made to combat injustice. In Slavish Shore, Jeffrey Amestoy tells the story of Dana’s unflagging determination to keep that vow in the face of nineteenth-century America’s most exclusive establishment: the Boston society in which he had been born and bred.
The drama of Dana’s life arises from the unresolved tension between the Brahmin he was expected to be on shore and the man he had become at sea. Dana’s sense of justice made him a lawyer who championed sailors and slaves, and his extraordinary advocacy put him at the center of some of the most consequential cases in American history: defending fugitive slave Anthony Burns, justifying President Lincoln’s war powers before the Supreme Court, and prosecuting Confederate president Jefferson Davis for treason. Yet Dana’s own promising political career remained unfulfilled as he struggled to reconcile his rigorous conscience with his restless spirit in public controversy and private life.
The first full-length biography of Dana in more than half a century, Slavish Shore reintroduces readers to one of America’s most zealous defenders of freedom and human dignity.
Jeffrey L. Amestoy has served as Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and is a Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School.
Why you should go: "Slavish Shore is the first new biography of Richard Henry Dana in over fifty years, and rigorous attention to Dana is long overdue. Amestoy is an excellent writer who takes us gracefully through Dana’s fascinating life, providing much new insight into his defense of fugitive slaves and his work on the treason case against Jefferson Davis. It is an important story, very well told." —Steven Lubet, author of Fugitive Justice: Runaways, Rescuers, and Slavery on Trial
Great for: History buffs, particularly those with an interest in local history, and anyone who enjoyed Two Years Before the Mast.
Phoenix Books Rutland is located at 2 Center Street in Rutland, Vermont. This event is free and open to the public. Copies of Slavish Shore will be available for attendees to purchase and have signed. Phoenix Books was established in 2007 on the principles of social responsibility, community, and sustainability, and is a proud member of Local First Vermont and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. Phoenix Books Burlington, Phoenix Books Essex and Phoenix Books Rutland are locally-owned, independent bookstores. Our Essex location also houses a gallery and cafe. Whenever possible, Phoenix Books sources eco-friendly products from Fair Trade/Green Certified companies. Seven Days readers voted Phoenix Books the "Best Bookstore in Chittenden County" for the newspaper's 2013, 2014 and 2015 Daysie Awards.