Book
The Dahomean
First published 1971
In early nineteenth-century Dahomey, Nyasanu is raised as the son of a chief and prepared for the duties, privileges and dangers of adult authority. His education passes through family politics, warfare, religious practice and the royal world of King Ghezo, while Yerby builds a detailed picture of a West African state with its own institutions, hierarchies and internal conflicts rather than treating Africa simply as a prelude to American slavery.
Dahomey’s military power is nevertheless entangled with the Atlantic slave trade, and Nyasanu’s fortunes eventually turn against him. Betrayal strips away the future for which he has been trained and carries him toward enslavement across the Atlantic. The novel’s historical force comes from that reversal: a man formed within an African political and cultural order is forced into a system designed to erase his status, name and autonomy.
Historical Periods
Historical people
More by the author
