The World That Fear Made: Slave Revolts and Conspiracy Scares in Early America

In The World That Fear Made: Slave Revolts and Conspiracy Scares in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press), Jason T. Sharples *10 argues that colonial officials’ reports of suppressing insurrections in their planning stages were not wholly truthful and ultimately served political goals of bolstering Americans’ racial fear. Sharples suggests that the historical narratives surrounding these conspiracy scares do not align with the reality of slave revolts, indicating that confessions from tortured slaves were more likely tools for colonial officials’ designs.