Begin the World Over

Begin the World Over is a counterfactual novel about the

Founders’ greatest fear—that Black and Indigenous people might join

forces to undo the newly formed United States of America—coming true.

In 1793, as revolutionaries in the West Indies take up arms, James Hemings has little interest in joining the fight for liberté—talented

and favored, he is careful to protect his relative comforts as Thomas

Jefferson’s enslaved chef. But when he meets Denmark Vesey, James is

immediately smitten. The formidable first mate persuades James to board

his ship, on its way to the revolt in Saint-Domingue. There and on the

mainland they join forces with a diverse cast of characters, including a

gender nonconforming prophetess, a formerly enslaved jockey, and a

Muskogee horse trader. The resulting adventure masterfully mixes real

historical figures and events with a riotous retelling of a possible

history in which James must decide whether to return to his constrained

but composed former life, or join the coalition of Black revolutionaries

and Muskogee resistance to fight the American slavers and settlers.