He was born property, destined for a life of brutal servitude under the blistering sun of Saint-Domingue. But François-Dominique Toussaint was no ordinary slave.

Gifted with a piercing intellect, uncanny empathy for animals, and a quiet resilience that masked a core of steel, Toussaint navigated the deadly complexities of the French colony. He learned the ways of his masters, the secrets of the land, and the forbidden philosophies of revolution. Freed from bondage, he tasted the ambiguities of life as a free man, even becoming an enslaver himself, before destiny intervened.

When the fires of rebellion ignite in 1791, Toussaint rises from obscurity, transforming himself into Toussaint Louverture—"The Opening"—a military genius who forges an army from former slaves. He outwits French commissioners, defeats Spanish invaders, and drives back the mighty British Empire. But as he gains power, he faces impossible choices: between freedom and order, principle and pragmatism, the revolutionary ideals he champions and the harsh measures required to build a nation.

From the heart of the only successful slave revolt in history emerges a leader of extraordinary complexity—statesman, general, liberator, dictator. The Opening plunges into the bloody, contradictory birth of Haiti, revealing the untold story of the man who defied empires, challenged the very foundation of the colonial world, and left a legacy that would echo from the Caribbean shores to the halls of power in Europe and America for centuries to come.