{"product_id":"the-jew-who-would-be-adam-laurence-rovner-9780520403000","title":"The Jew Who Would Be King: A True Story of Shipwreck, Survival, and Scandal in Victorian Africa","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis vivid reconstruction of one man's life of adventure reveals the harsh realities and moral ambiguities of colonial power.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Jew Who Would Be King \u003c\/i\u003etells the improbable true story of Nathaniel Isaacs--a nineteenth-century British Jew who helped establish the Zulu kingdom only to later become a ruthless warlord and slaveholder. Isaacs' thrilling journey begins with his shipwreck on the shores of Zululand and proceeds to ports across West Africa, including Freetown, Sierra Leone. There, tasked by the colonial governor to end the local slave trade, Isaacs brokered deals that reinforced his own power. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Adam Rovner's meticulous archival research in England, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and St. Helena, coupled with his own travels to the remnants of Isaacs' island stronghold in Guinea, brings this complex figure to life. \u003ci\u003eThe Jew Who Would Be King\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterful narrative that intertwines Isaacs' personal ambition with the epic machinations of early globalization. Through Isaacs' story, Rovner exposes the entangled forces of Jewish emancipation and antisemitism, slavery and abolition, the stark dichotomies of civilization and \"savagery,\" and the creation of whiteness versus Blackness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Adam Laurence Rovner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0520403002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780520403000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of California Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/29\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Adam Laurence Rovner","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46372700717311,"sku":"9780520403000","price":32.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_1754f60f-a85e-467e-b75c-311a7613b9d9.jpg?v=1732726703","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-jew-who-would-be-adam-laurence-rovner-9780520403000","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}