Most of those who made the revolution in Saint-Domingue left no writing of their own, and what survives of them comes from hostile witnesses with reasons to shape the record. Toussaint Louverture is the exception. Dubois works by reading such sources against the grain, and presents the result as provisional, a story that invites retelling rather than closing the question.

He is wary of two habits. One treats the revolution's violence as a puzzle of blame, asking who committed atrocities first instead of setting political violence in the context every revolution provides. The other lets racial labels explain what they only describe: he abandons the term mulatto for gens de couleur, and insists that shifting political projects, not colour or class, account for how people acted.

The consequences were worldwide. A society that granted freedom and citizenship across colour lines helped destroy slavery in the Americas and left later struggles a foundation.