"The text of this ... edition follows the first American printing ... (New York, 1791). The only significant changes (other than minor spelling and punctuation corrections) are the insertion of paragraph breaks and notes to the text that explain some of the ideas and events of the late eighteenth century to which Equiano refers"--Preface.

pt. 1. Introduction: Equiano's worlds. Olaudah Equiano and the eighteenth-century world ; Equiano and the antislavery movement ; African identities in the new world ; Equiano's Narrative as an abolitionist tool ; The question of Equiano's origins ; The literary context of Equiano's Narrative ; Equiano's legacy. -- pt. 2. The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, written by himself. -- pt. 3. Related documents. Olaudah Equiano, Letter to James Tobin, January 28, 1788 ; Olaudah Equiano, Letter to the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, February 7, 1789 ; Olaudah Equiano, Letter to Thomas Hardy, May 28, 1792 ; William Blake, illustrations for Narrative, of a five years' expedition ... by John G. Stedman, 1796. -- Appendixes. An Equiano chronology ; Questions for consideration.