The Life and Exploits of Three-Finger’d Jack

The Life and Exploits of Three-Finger’d Jack (1801) is a book by William Burdett. Inspired by tales of legendary slave-turned-rebel Jack Mansong, as well as by a popular pantomime based on Jack’s life, Burdett published his book to popular acclaim in England. In late eighteenth-century Jamaica, a runaway slave named Jack “Three-Fingered Jack” Mansong defied British law to establish a community of runaways in the densely forested Blue Mountains of what is now Sant Thomas Parish. Because his actions violated a controversial treaty between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial authority, Jack and his comrades faced persecution from both groups. Knowing that his only choice was between freedom or death, Jack fought valiantly to the bitter end. In Burdett’s version of events, Jack’s story begins in Africa, where he goes by the name Mansong. Stolen into slavery and taken to the Caribbean, the war hero prepares to make his break for the mountains. The Life and Exploits of Three-Finger’d Jack also features a romantic subplot between the planter’s daughter Rosa and Captain Orford, an Englishman newly arrived in Jamaica. This edition of William Burdett’s The Life and Exploits of Three-Finger’d Jack is a classic of British-Jamaican literature reimagined for modern readers.

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