During the battle over slavery in the US, free and enslaved Black writers allied themselves with abolition and used their poetry to envision the end of slavery as a world-historical moment of possibility. They borrowed from the European tradition of Romanticism, and the relationship with Lord Byron's work is closely explored. Many conceived of the US Civil War as on a par with Europe's Age of Revolutions, and had high hopes for a future that met ideals of freedom. This book argues these poets' cultural innovations have shaped Black radical culture to this day.  Verso. London, New York. 2020. Paper. NEW. $24.00