JULY 2016 - AudioFile
Narrator Peter Fernandez offers a solid reading, making this text flow nicely. The story of the Underground Railroad is steeped in myth. This book seeks to show that the real story is as fascinating and interesting as the imagined one, perhaps more so. The author explores the roots of what he calls America’s first Civil Rights movement. He also shows how ordinary African-Americans shaped the effort far more than better-known white Americans. Fernandez is a good match to the author’s writing style. He’s particularly effective with accents—regional American, British, and especially those of former slaves. He also conveys the gravitas of this important story. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Library Journal
Countless black and white Americans operated the Underground Railroad, defying slaveholders and the federal government to escort fugitive slaves over land or by sea to freedom-and risking severe punishment if captured. Bordewich (Killing the White Man's Indian) covers six decades of the Underground Railroad, from its inchoate beginnings to its height, when it boasted a complex network of individuals determined to eliminate slavery from a nation proclaiming to be the land of liberty. Similar in scope to David W. Blight's Passages to Freedom, this work takes into account the many parties involved at all levels of the Underground Railroad. Bordewich draws mainly from primary sources to craft a rich, spellbinding, and readable narrative for lay readers, praising Underground Railroad men and women for setting in motion "far-reaching political and moral consequences that changed [race] relations in ways more radical than any since the American Revolution" and long before the modern Civil Rights Movement. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/04.]-Charles L. Lumpkins, Pennsylvania State Univ., State College Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A vivid reconstruction of abolitionism's most daring act of rebellion, "an epic of high drama, moral courage, religious inspiration, and unexpected personal transformations played out by a cast of extraordinary personalities."The abolitionist movement, Bordewich (My Mother's Ghost, 2000, etc.) notes, began not long after the Revolutionary War ended, and it began in the revolutionary hotbed of Philadelphia. Its earliest members were religious activists, though as the 19th century progressed, the Underground Railroad-the term refers to an interlocking system of routes and way stations by which slaves were afforded escape-became hydra-headed, with very little central direction, a great deal of individual initiative, and no set ideology save for one overarching goal: "to provide aid to any fugitive slave who asked for it." In those early days, Bordewich writes, utmost secrecy was of the essence, for slavery was allowed and practiced everywhere in the US but Vermont; gradually, however, the North shed the "peculiar institution," while Thomas Jefferson hazarded that the South would soon follow. Thus turn-of-the-century law required that fugitive slaves be returned to their owners, one reason that the Underground Railroad's favored terminus was enlightened Canada, where fugitives found work as skilled construction workers, "as shoemakers, tailors, barbers, cooks, and agricultural laborers," and even as some of the first tourist guides at Niagara Falls. Things became more complicated when slave states and free states butted heads: for instance, when free blacks in Cincinnati surrounded slaves on the way to Kentucky and urged them not to go any farther, and when a Philadelphia court ruled that theslave of a South Carolina senator resident in the city was a free man, having lived in Pennsylvania long enough to establish legal residency. It might have shocked some of the pacifist founders of the Underground Railroad, Bordewich ventures, to learn that their actions would in time help spark the Civil War-and perhaps even to know that abolitionism would directly beget feminism. Rich in detail and solid storytelling: sure to awaken interest in the peculiar anti-institution.
From the Publisher
Well written, moving, and stimulating...Could provide the occasion for a constructive national conversation.” — New York Times on Killing the White Man's Indian
“Well written, moving, and stimulating...Could provide the occasion for a constructive national conversation.” — St. Petersburg Times on Killing the White Man's Indian
“A vivid reconstruction of abolitionism’s most daring act of rebellion...” — Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“Rich in detail and solid storytelling: sure to awaken interest in the peculiar anti-institution.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“A rich, spellbinding, and readable narrative.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“Rich in detail, [and] its ability to evoke the emotions, sights and sounds of these clandestine ventures.” — Black Issues Book Review
“Utterly compelling.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Dramatizes a shining moment in American history a book filled with unsung heroes and revolutionary acts of trust.” — O magazine
“Bound for Canaan recaptures this grand history with the insightfulness, comprehensiveness, and narrative vigor the subject demands.” — David Levering Lewis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the two-volume life of W. E. B. Du Bois
“Bound For Canaan reveals in stunning detail and beautiful prose the inner workings of this clandestine system.” — Kate Clifford, Ph.D. author of Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero
“This fast-paced narrative is the best account we have of the network known as the Underground Railroad.” — James McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
“A masterful storya deeply American story.” — Cornel West, University Professor of Religion, Princeton University, and author of Race Matters and Democracy Matters
“An excellent book . . .as close to a definitive history as we’re likely to see.” — Wall Street Journal
“A profoundly American tale.” — USA Today
“An important addition to our history, brilliantly told.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Well written, moving, and stimulating...Could provide the occasion for a constructive national conversation.” — New York Times
“Engrossing account of the Underground Railroad.” — The New Yorker
“The . . stories. . . inspire, horrify and humble.” — Washington Post
“Bordewich brings to his account [of the Underghround Railroad] the moral seriousness it deserves.” — New York Review of Books
“Excellent...The first truly comprehensive treatment of the underground railroad.” — Civil War History Magazine
Kate Clifford
Bound For Canaan reveals in stunning detail and beautiful prose the inner workings of this clandestine system.
O magazine
Dramatizes a shining moment in American history a book filled with unsung heroes and revolutionary acts of trust.
Black Issues Book Review
Rich in detail, [and] its ability to evoke the emotions, sights and sounds of these clandestine ventures.
New York Times on Killing the White Man's Indian
Well written, moving, and stimulating...Could provide the occasion for a constructive national conversation.
St. Petersburg Times on Killing the White Man's Indian
Well written, moving, and stimulating...Could provide the occasion for a constructive national conversation.
David Levering Lewis
Bound for Canaan recaptures this grand history with the insightfulness, comprehensiveness, and narrative vigor the subject demands.
USA Today
A profoundly American tale.
Cornel West
A masterful storya deeply American story.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An important addition to our history, brilliantly told.
New York Review of Books
Bordewich brings to his account [of the Underghround Railroad] the moral seriousness it deserves.
James McPherson
This fast-paced narrative is the best account we have of the network known as the Underground Railroad.
Washington Post
The . . stories. . . inspire, horrify and humble.
Civil War History Magazine
Excellent...The first truly comprehensive treatment of the underground railroad.
The New Yorker
Engrossing account of the Underground Railroad.
New York Times
Well written, moving, and stimulating...Could provide the occasion for a constructive national conversation.
Wall Street Journal
An excellent book . . .as close to a definitive history as we’re likely to see.
The New Yorker
Engrossing account of the Underground Railroad.
USA Today
A profoundly American tale.
Washington Post
The . . stories. . . inspire, horrify and humble.
Wall Street Journal
An excellent book . . .as close to a definitive history as we’re likely to see.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An important addition to our history, brilliantly told.
JULY 2016 - AudioFile
Narrator Peter Fernandez offers a solid reading, making this text flow nicely. The story of the Underground Railroad is steeped in myth. This book seeks to show that the real story is as fascinating and interesting as the imagined one, perhaps more so. The author explores the roots of what he calls America’s first Civil Rights movement. He also shows how ordinary African-Americans shaped the effort far more than better-known white Americans. Fernandez is a good match to the author’s writing style. He’s particularly effective with accents—regional American, British, and especially those of former slaves. He also conveys the gravitas of this important story. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine