With the golden bullet he had moulded years before, Henry Christophe, the black Emperor of Haiti, ended his life, bringing to an end one of the most extraordinary and romantic careers in the history of the New World. 

At the height of his power he built the magnificent fortress of La Ferrière, a structure rivalling the pyramids in incredibility, even in its present half-ruined state. An untutored man, of tremendous stature and virility, he freed Haiti, successfully defied Napoleon Bonaparte, amassed a personal fortune of millions and ruled his kingdom with an iron hand.

Vandercook, with his brilliant understanding of the primitive mind, and after much research in Christophe's tropical empire, has written the first complete authentic biography of the black emperor.

From the dust jacket