Twelve Years a Slave
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4.3 • 1.5K Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
The story that inspired the major motion picture, with an introduction by the bestselling author of Wench, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing, vividly detailed, and utterly unforgettable account of slavery.
The story that inspired the major motion picture, with an introduction by the bestselling author of Wench, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing, vividly detailed, and utterly unforgettable account of slavery.
Solomon Northup was an entrepreneur and dedicated family man, father to three young children, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. What little free time he had after long days of manual and farm labor he spent reading books and playing the violin. Though his father was born into slavery, Solomon was born and lived free.
In March 1841, two strangers approached Northup, offering him employment as a violinist in a town hundreds of miles away from his home in Saratoga Springs, New York. Solomon bid his wife farewell until his return. Only after he was drugged and bound did he realize the strangers were kidnappers—that nefarious brand of criminals in the business of capturing runaway and free blacks for profit. Thus began Northup's horrific life as a slave.
Dehumanized, beaten, and worked mercilessly, Northup suffered all the more, wondering what had become of his family. One owner was savagely cruel and Northup recalls he was “indebted to him for nothing, save undeserved abuse.” Just as he felt the summer of his life fade and all hope nearly lost, he met a kindhearted stranger who changed the course of his life.
With its firsthand account of this country's Peculiar Institution, this is a book no one interested in American history can afford to miss.
Customer Reviews
Truth One Ups Fiction
I read this because I wanted to read the story before I saw the movie. After the first few pages getting used to the author's 19th century formal language, I read through the end and turned the last page a bit speechless. I should think even the most informed will be shocked at how slavery actually played out. This memoir makes that painful and shameful episode of our history real- not something that happened a long time ago to some anonymous folk but to flesh-and-blood, hardworking Americans. Amazing.
12 Years a Slave
I agree with the reviews above. I chose to read this when I heard about the movie and heard interviews with star and director on the radio. If what you know about the story has piqued your interest already, read this book, you will not be disappointed.
A must read
This book is a must read for any student of the history of the United States. This autobiographical account details the absolute horror that was slavery in the US and rips asunder any claim that slaves in America were happy with their status or lives.
Rather than detail every harsh encounter with a slave master, Northrop simply explains the condition of the status of anyone with African ancestry had at that time as well as the ease with which a black person could be permanently enslaved in a society that would not take sworn testimony and would not accord basic human rights to anyone with an African lineage.
The horrors of the status of slavery are well outlined. Anyone who questions whether or not that "peculiar institution" was worthwhile in any part of America will see a strong argument against that viewpoint.