{"product_id":"kidnapped-at-sea","title":"Kidnapped at Sea","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe true story of David Henry White, a free Black teenage sailor enslaved on the high seas during the Civil War, whose life story was falsely and intentionally appropriated to advance the Lost Cause trope of a contented slave, happy and safe in servility.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDavid Henry White, a free Black teenage sailor from Lewes, Delaware, was kidnapped by Captain Raphael Semmes of the Confederate raider \u003ci\u003eAlabama\u003c\/i\u003e on October 9, 1862, from the Philadelphia-based packet ship \u003ci\u003eTonawanda.\u003c\/i\u003e White remained captive on the \u003ci\u003eAlabama\u003c\/i\u003e for over 600 days, until he drowned during the Battle of Cherbourg on June 19, 1864.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a best-selling postwar memoir, Semmes falsely described White as a contented slave who remained loyal to the Confederacy. In \u003ci\u003eKidnapped at Sea\u003c\/i\u003e, archaeologist Andrew Sillen uses a forensic approach to describe White's enslavement and demise and illustrates how White's actual life belies the Lost Cause narrative his captors sought to construct.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eKidnapped at Sea\u003c\/i\u003e is the first book to focus on White's actual life, rather than relying on Semmes and other secondary sources. Until now, Semmes's appropriation of White's life has escaped scrutiny, thereby demonstrating the challenges faced by disempowered, illiterate people—and how well-crafted, racist fabrications have become part of Civil War memory.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Johns Hopkins University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54217821454680,"sku":"9781421449517","price":32.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781421449517_a548f6ca-cb97-4a39-b655-0851e1e67948.jpg?v=1767067224","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/kidnapped-at-sea","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}