A vivid picture of life in the era when America was born, Mountain is based on the true story of Joseph Mountain -- a free black raised by notable white Philadelphians before the revolutionary war. His adopted father -- a signer of the Declaration of Independence -- gives Joseph a stipend just before war breaks out and sends him abroad for his education. In London, he meets two itinerant entertainers who are also highwaymen. With dreams of adventure, young Joseph joins his new friends as a gentleman of the pike and as a sailor to make his fortune, but one day, fate places him on a notorious slave ship where his life changes. The novel is an account of his adventures in an intolerant world, his efforts to redeem his errant life, and subsequent visits to the Maroons of Jamaica, a Voudoo priest in Haiti, and thence to New Orleans where he seeks new allies. With a new-found perspective, Joseph returns home to the new United States.