Synopses & Reviews
An important book of epic scope on America's first racially integrated, religiously inspired movement for changeThe civil war brought to a climax the country's bitter division. But the beginnings of slavery's denouement can be traced to a courageous band of ordinary Americans, black and white, slave and free, who joined forces to create what would come to be known as the Underground Railroad, a movement that occupies as romantic a place in the nation's imagination as the Lewis and Clark expedition. The true story of the Underground Railroad is much more morally complex and politically divisive than even the myths suggest. Against a backdrop of the country's westward expansion arose a fierce clash of values that was nothing less than a war for the country's soul. Not since the American Revolution had the country engaged in an act of such vast and profound civil disobedience that not only challenged prevailing mores but also subverted federal law.
Bound for Canaan tells the stories of men and women like David Ruggles, who invented the black underground in New York City; bold Quakers like Isaac Hopper and Levi Coffin, who risked their lives to build the Underground Railroad; and the inimitable Harriet Tubman. Interweaving thrilling personal stories with the politics of slavery and abolition, Bound for Canaan shows how the Underground Railroad gave birth to this country's first racially integrated, religiously inspired movement for social change.
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"The...stories...inspire, horrify and humble." Washington Post
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"Bordewich brings to his account [of the Underghround Railroad] the moral seriousness it deserves." New York Review of Books
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"Excellent....The first truly comprehensive treatment of the underground railroad." Civil War History Magazine
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"An important addition to our often murky conception of mid-19th century America." San Francisco Chronicle
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"All in all, it's a part of American history that everyone should know and great reading, too." Providence Journal
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"Bound for Canaan offers several myth-busting lessons, including the unsurprising fact that few of the movement's white leaders subscribed to 21st-century notions of racial equality." Wall Street Journal
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"This engrossing account of the Underground Railroad describes how scattered 'experimental, impulsive' acts (for instance, defending a fugitive from a patrol) became an organized operation..." The New Yorker
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"[A] rich, spellbinding, and readable narrative for lay readers....Highly recommended..." Library Journal
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"A vivid reconstruction of abolitionism's most daring act of rebellion....Rich in detail and solid storytelling: sure to awaken interest in the peculiar anti-institution." Kirkus Reviews
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"...Bordewich brings to life the drama and extraordinary personalities involved in the Underground Railroad....Readers interested in learning about historical figures in the Underground Railroad other than Harriet Tubman will enjoy this work." Booklist
Synopsis
With a historian's grasp of events and a novelist's instinct for story, Bordewich focuses on the 60 years leading up to the Civil War. Its beginnings can be traced to a band of abolitionists who created what became known as the Underground Railroad.
Synopsis
An important book of epic scope on America's first racially integrated, religiously-inspired political movement for change--The Underground Railroad, a movement peopled by daring heroes and heroines, and everyday folk
For most, the mention of the Underground Railroad evokes images of hidden tunnels, midnight rides, and hairsbreadth escapes. Yet the Underground Railroad's epic story is much more morally complex and politically divisive than even the myths suggest. Against a backdrop of the country's westward expansion, which brought together Easterners who had engaged in slavery primarily in the abstract alongside slaveholding Southerners and their slaves, arose a clash of values that evolved into a fierce fight for nothing less than the country's soul. Beginning six decades before the Civil War, freedom-seeking blacks and pious whites worked together to save tens of thousands of lives, often at the risk of great physical danger to themselves. Not since the American Revolution had the country engaged in an act of such vast and profound civil disobedience that not only subverted federal law but also went against prevailing mores.
Flawlessly researched and uncommonly engaging, Bound for Canaan, shows why it was the Underground Railroad and not the Civil Rights movement that gave birth to this country's first racially-integrated, religiously-inspired movement for social change.
Synopsis
Interweaving thrilling personal stories with the politics of slavery and abolition, this work shows how the Underground Railroad gave birth to America's first racially integrated, religiously inspired movement for social change.
Synopsis
With a historian's grasp of events and a novelist's ear for story, Fergus M. Bordewich has written a grand epic of American history focusing on the sixty years leading up to the Civil War, which brought to a climax the country's bitter division. But its beginnings can be traced to a clandestine alliance of both black and white abolitionists and slaves, who joined forces to lead tens of thousands of enslaved Americans to freedom in a movement that occupies a legendary place in the nation's imagination, but about which little has been known until now.
About the Author
Fergus M. Bordewich is the author of several books, including Bound for Canaan, Killing the White Man's Indian, and My Mother's Ghost, a memoir. The son of a national civil rights leader for Native Americans, he was introduced early in life to racial politics. As a journalist, he has written widely on political and cultural subjects in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, American Heritage, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Reader's Digest, and many other publications. He was born in New York City, and now lives in New York's Hudson River Valley with his wife and daughter.