The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in  1789, is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano. It discusses his time  spent in slavery, serving primarily on galleys, documents his attempts  at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his  eventual success in gaining his own freedom and in business thereafter.  The book contains an interesting discussion of slavery in West Africa  and illustrates how the experience differs from the dehumanising slavery  of the Americas. The Intereresting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah  Equiano is also one of the first widely read slave narratives.