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Twelve Years a Slave: The Autobiography of Solomon Northup
Twelve Years a Slave: The Autobiography of Solomon Northup
Twelve Years a Slave: The Autobiography of Solomon Northup
Audiobook7 hours

Twelve Years a Slave: The Autobiography of Solomon Northup

Written by Solomon Northup

Narrated by Louis Gossett Jr.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

In this riveting landmark autobiography that reads like a novel, Academy Award and Emmy winner Louis Gossett, Jr., masterfully transports us to 1840s New York, Louisiana, and Washington, DC, to experience the kidnapping and twelve-year bondage of Solomon Northup, a free man of color. Twelve Years a Slave, published in 1853, was an immediate bombshell in the national debate over slavery leading up to the Civil War. It validated Harriett Beecher Stowe’s fictional account of Southern slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which had become the best-selling American book in history a few years earlier, and significantly changed public opinion in favor of abolition. A major motion picture based on the book and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, and Michael Fassbender is set to release in 2013. This authenticated edition is based on the research of Dr. Sue Eakin, the nationally recognized authority on Solomon Northup.

Hard working Solomon Northup, an educated free man of color in 1841, enjoys family life with his wife and three children in Saratoga, New York. He delights his community with his fiddle playing and antic spirit and has positive expectations of everyone he meets. When he is deceived by “circus promoters” who ask him to accompany them to a musical gig in Washington, DC, his joyful life takes an unimaginable turn. He awakes in shackles to find he has been drugged, kidnapped, and bound for the slave block in the nation’s capital.

After Solomon is shipped a thousand miles to New Orleans, he is assigned his slave name and quickly learns that the mere utterance of his true origin or rights as a freeman are certain to bring severe punishment, maybe even death. While he endures the brutal life of a slave in Louisiana’s isolated Bayou Boeuf plantation country, he must learn how to play the system and plot his escape home.

For twelve years, his fine mind captures the reality of slavery in stunning detail, and listeners learn about the characters that populated plantation society and the intrigues of the bayou-from the collapse of a slave rebellion resulting in mass hangings due to traitorous slave Lew Cheney to the tragic end of his friend Patsey, brought about by Mrs. Epps’ jealousy of her husband’s sexual exploitation of the pretty young slave.

When Solomon finally finds a sympathizing friend who risks his life to secret a letter to the North, a courageous rescue attempt ensues that could either compound Solomon’s suffering or get him back to the arms of his family.

Editor's Note

Chilling narrative…

The obscure slave narrative that spun an Oscars-sweeping film, Solomon Northup’s memoir of his life working the fields in the American South is a chilling reminder of this nation’s history.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 1, 2013
ISBN9781467660693
Twelve Years a Slave: The Autobiography of Solomon Northup
Author

Solomon Northup

Solomon Northup was a renowned fiddle player who was kidnapped and enslaved for twelve years before he was rescued by an official agent from the state of New York.

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Reviews for Twelve Years a Slave

Rating: 4.261653909774435 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book really loved the entire story ? perfect read
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Solomon Northup was born a free man in New York State. At the age of 33 he was kidnapped in Washington D.C. and placed in an underground slave pen. Northup was transported by ship to New Orleans where he was sold into slavery. He spent the next 12 years working as a carpenter, driver, and cotton picker. This narrative reveals how Northup survived the harsh conditions of slavery, including smallpox, lashings, and an attempted hanging. Solomon Northup was among a select few who were freed from slavery.My Thoughts:The description of the book really tells the reader what to expect with this true account of the authors experiences. The story is really harrowing and it is awful what human beings can do to each other.I wouldn’t say that the book is an enjoyable one because of its content and at times it was awful. I especially found the floggings terrible and worse of all was what happened to Patsey. After that event I found that I couldn’t stand anymore so I was skipping towards the end just to see how the author did find his freedom again.A very harrowing tale but at times very compelling but I wouldn’t say it was a nice read. I am glad that I did read this book albeit it hard at times to read the content.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An amazing, disturbing story of one man's struggle to regain his freedom. A narrative to follow you, if only to say it is surely one of the more lighter stories regarding slavery.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A wholly remarkable book in every regard. Every American citizen should read this exceptional account, to better understand the nature, and lack of, freedom.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The true story of a black American freeman in the 1840s-50s who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the southern states. After enduring 12 years of servitude he was eventually freed after managing to contact a relative of the man who had set his ancestors free. The experiences he recounts are both shocking and moving, though he himself notes at the end that he may have given an overly positive impression of life as a slave. It was a difficult read, but well worth it. His faith through all circumstances is as inspiring as is disgusting the way certain owners misused scripture to support their barbaric treatment. Although he makes reference to the abolitionist movement he is careful not to overstep the role alotted him as a black man in those days by presuming to preach to the reader, instead leaving them to draw their own conclusions. I certainly don't think I could have been so diplomatic if I were in his place.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Really good book in it's biographical retelling of Soloman Northups life and experience but I felt it lacked an emotional connection. In moments when the most horrendous wrong is being done I felt it purely because it was so wrong not as a result of the storytelling. The book is an academic recounting of salve life rather than a novel, which is fairness to the book and the writer is really what it was planned for.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Non-fiction that describes Solomon Northup’s experience as a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, where he remained from 1841 to 1853, working on plantations in Louisiana before being rescued through the efforts of friends and family. I was impressed by this account, especially since it was documented almost immediately upon his return to freedom when his memories were fresh. This powerful narrative vividly depicts life of a slave in the antebellum American South, including slave pens, sales, quarters, abuses, and the processes of picking cotton and harvesting sugar cane. Though he suffered severe misery, both physically and mentally, Solomon Northup never gave up hope of being released. This book shows the amazing resilience of the human spirit in the face of great adversity. It is surprisingly readable, considering it was published in 1853, with only a small amount of anachronistic language. I wish it had included more about how he re-adapted to his family and former life, but it is short and focused on his enslavement. Content warnings include extreme brutality, abuse, degradation, and racism. I found it a significant, still-relevant, first-hand indictment of slavery. This book is a piece of history. Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Powerful and horrific account of slavery, when the New York author- a free man, a husband and father, earning a living labouring and playing the violin, is kidnapped and sold into the sugar and cotton mills of Louisiana.He describes a succession of "owners" - from the reasonable to the psychopathic- a host of tragic stories of those other slaves he meets; and eventually, thanks to a sympathetic white visitor, the intervention of the law to restore his freedom...though the reader is well aware that no legislation could help his former fellow slaves.Makes the white reader stop and ponder - with shame and horror- just what was done by our ancestors;
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Incredible story. I read this after seeing the movie, and I'm surprised to see that nearly all of the same elements are there, with perhaps a few minor tweaks combining some of Solomon's overseers/owners into fewer personalities, more suitable for film. About the only noticeable scene that's missing from the movie is Solomon's stopover in Washington during the return trip to sue Burch -- not the most painful of Solomon's experiences, but quite possibly the most frustrating.

    As for the book itself, Solomon's tale is highly readable still today. The narrative is fast paced, yet provides sufficient detail to give a good sense of the people who made up a significant part of Solomon's life for that rather long interstice of enslavement. I was also intrigued at Solomon's interjections and descriptions of the institution of slavery, which he described as a complex system full of masters and mistresses who are variously benevolent and baneful, pious and puerile, magnanimous and megalomaniacal. Solomon's commentary on the system is as nuanced as it is unforgiving, being critical without becoming too -- tract-y, for lack of a better word. At the end he even acknowledges that if there is any fault of his story, it is that he highlighted "too prominently the bright side of the picture," a sentiment which it would be much too understated to call unexpected at best.

    While not always a happy story, this is definitely a great one.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A personal account of slavery in the 1840s South.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A powerful, heart-breaking story that reveals a part of history not taught in school. Let all of us learn to overcome bigotry and cruelty through dignity and self-determination instead of accepting hatred. Once we accept the hatred and bigotry of others we condemn ourselves to allowing that to become our truth, to allowing ourselves to become haters, to allowing ourselves to be less than we can be.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A free black man in New York is kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana, where he remains for a dozen years before he is rescued. It pulls no punches when describing the horrors of slavery, but what really struck me is how hard Northup worked to see the best in everyone. He does put a little more detail into the act of farming cotton and the description of stocks than I found strictly necessary, but his purpose was to educate his contemporaries about the realities of slavery, setting the record straight. He goes to great pains to give evidence that his story is true, and while he does speak about the wrongness of slavery as an institution, he is reasonable rather than preachy. Fascinating story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The story of Solomon Northup, and the dignity and humility in which he tells it, is harrowing, awe-inspiring and horrifying. I am most interested in his observations on how deep and inescapable the system of slavery was for those who perpetuated it. Of how, from a young age, that system was instructed and reinforced. Now, 150 years later, the deep roots of that cultural identity are still present and the ramifications felt. Yes, we've come a long way, but a stain as deep and large as slavery is not quickly washed clean.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was way ahead on reading Battle Cry of Freedom for my Civil War reading group, so I decided to take a break and read something related. I'd been meaning to read this since seeing the heart-breaking movie, and as I'd found a nice copy at my favorite used bookstore last year, this seemed an obvious choice.I thought the movie did a fairly good job of keeping faithful to the book, so most of the horrors of this story were already familiar. So what impressed me most in this reading were Northup's remarkable insights into the people around him -- both the slaves who have known such treatment their entire lives, but also the slave owners. Some of his observations of the very real cost to their humanity by the brutalities they have inflicted and/or witnessed as members of the slave-holding class struck me. Northup wasn't just a man thrust into extraordinary circumstances -- he was clearly himself extraordinary, as a writer and observer, to be able to produce such an account.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This unforgettable memoir was the basis for the Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave. This is the true story of Solomon Northup, who was born and raised as a freeman in New York. He lived the American dream, with a house and a loving family - a wife and two kids. Then one day he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the deep south. These are the true accounts of his twelve hard years as a slave - many believe this memoir is even more graphic and disturbing than the film. His extraordinary journey proves the resiliency of hope and the human spirit despite the most grueling and formidable of circumstances.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    2.5 starsIn the mid-1800s, Solomon Northup was a free black man from New York. He was married and had three kids. He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana. This is his story. I think I made the mistake of listening to the audio. Even worse, my library had the choice of three different audio books, with three different narrators. I chose the narrator I recognized (though I've not listened to him narrate a book before): Louis Gossett, Jr. Unfortunately, the book rarely held my attention. It did some, and the parts I paid attention to were ok, but overall, I missed out on too much of the book to really “like” it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This audio book brought Solomon’s voice through Louis Gossett Jr. as he read the book to me in my car. Mr. Gossett Jr. did a fantastic job bringing the emotion through making Solomon very real to me. This book was heart breaking, gut wrenching, and opened my eyes even further to another part of slavery. I have not watched the movie yet as I wanted to read the book first.
    First of all, the concept of slavery just boggles my mind to begin with, it always has. The fact that white people thought they had the right to own another human has always baffled me and even more after listening to this book. It showed that there were a lot of bullies back then as there still are today. The brutal lashings after being stripped down and secured to the ground, the sorrow of children being taken from their mother, I can’t imagine anyone going through it. To be ripped away from what you know and love and then beaten to almost your death, there are no words.
    I still can’t believe slavery was abolished in 1865. That wasn’t very long ago yet the youth of today don’t realize how recently it happened. It chills me to think that just a hundred years before I was born this was going on. This book should be part of the American History curriculum for every High School. I know Solomon will be with me for the rest of my life.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one of those books everyone should read. Northrup’s account of his kidnapping and twelve years of enslavement is made even more poignant by the matter-of-fact style of his narrative.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read the book because I wanted to see the movie but after reading the book I don't think I could handle the movie. The subject of Slavery just upsets me so much! As far as this book Mr Northup did a great job in relating his experience.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Just....Excellent and Amazing!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I enjoy reading books, especially autobiographies, from the 1800s--this one published in 1853 and was a bestseller at the time. The movie made from this book is nominated for several Oscars. It bothers me that we're so ignorant of our history that we have to "rediscover" books from just 150 years ago. This book is available for free since it's way past copyright, but you can buy an updated annotated version by some professors who researched the history. The version I listened to was read by Louis Gossett, Jr. which made it great. Solomon Northrup's story was supposedly used as the historical basis for Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

    *spoilers below*

    Northrup was born a free black man and lived in New York where he owned property and made a good living for himself and his family. One day, some travelers offer to pay him for his services in playing the violin and convince him to travel to New York City, where he obtains legal proof of his freedom, and onward to Washington, D.C. where Northrup is kidnapped and cruelly sold into slavery, within sight of the Capitol; the irony of this is lost on no one.

    He is transported to New Orleans and recounts the sad tales of other slaves along his journey. For example, one woman was the slave mistress of a master who seemingly had loved her and promised to free her. When she thought that day had arrived, she was instead delivered to an auction with her children, and she is to be resold in New Orleans. She is desperate to keep her children with her and her new purchaser offers to buy her daughter, but her owner will not sell her because she is beautiful and will fetch a large sum from men for her use when she's older.

    Northrup is able to sneak a letter off of his slave transport, which reaches his family in New York (he later learned) but they are unable to do anything without more information on his whereabouts. This is the last letter he is able to send for the next 12 years as it was forbidden for slaves to get access to pen and paper, and illegal for a post office to mail a letter from a slave without his master's consent. It's a crime to kidnap and sell a free man, so his story could get many in trouble (and cause later masters to lose possession of him) for which he fears his own life. Northrup is given the name of Platt and lives by that name for 12 years, keeping his real story secret. This also hinders any chance of recovery by his family.

    He is purchased by a "good, Christian man" and Northrup remarks at the way slavery is seen by Christians in the North as anathema but in the South they see no problem with it; his first master actually is kind to his slaves and reads Scripture to them on Sundays-- Northrup enjoys working for him and endeavors to please him. Reading and thinking recently about the theology of work, the way a man can take pride in his own work no matter the situation is very instructive for me. Northrup observes that the better slaves are treated, the harder and more earnestly they work; but always, they long for freedom. They know there are places where there is no slavery and it's a heavenly dream to them.

    When the kind master falls on hard financial times, Northrup is mortgaged and then sold to a notoriously harsh carpenter who twice tries to kill him-- and Northrup responds by beating the man almost to death the first time, running away back to his original master the next. Northrup was able to escape only because he had learned to swim in the North, whereas it was forbidden for slaves to learn to swim in the South. He serves another master (Epps) for ten years, and Epps, like most masters, treat their slaves cruelly.

    He encounters everything from Indians to Cajuns to runaway slaves in Louisiana and engages in various occupations on a few plantations, being repeatedly resold or leased out. He develops a reputation everywhere he goes of being remarkable-- both for his beating of previous taskmaster, and to his intelligent work. He recounts the daily fears of working the plantation during cotton season; whippings in the fields for small mistakes, whippings at the gin for bringing in too much or too little cotton, the fear of being late, or of going hungry. He details the processes of cotton, corn, and sugar harvesting and processing. He recounts the fate of slave escapes and rebellions-- always ending badly. If you've seen Roots or really any PBS documentary discussing slave life, nothing in this book will shock you. There are a couple of grotesque scenes that vividly portray the depravity of men given license to do as they wish with other men-- one act which Northrup rightly describes as "demonic." What you glean from it is the perspective of a man who was always aware of what freedom was-- like a prisoner unjustly imprisoned with little hope of release.

    Some new details that stood out to me about slave life are that slaves were usually given 3-6 days off at Christmas, but worked the other 360 days. At Christmas, plantation owners would host a large feast for the slaves, and the slaves would have a lively dancing party that was looked forward to the whole year. They were also traditionally given a pass to go where they pleased for those days, and most slaves took time to visit loved ones on other plantations. Any work done in the Christmas season (and on Sundays year round) had to be compensated by law-- and that's how slaves were able to afford food and other necessities not provided. Solomon goes 12 years without sleeping on a bed, just floors with a blanket used for horses. Most slaveowning households had a tense relationship between the wife and the slaveowner's slave mistress. This plays out on several occasions in the book.

    In Why Nations Fail (my review), Acemoğlu and Robinson point out that the South lagged behind the North in terms of patents filed during the slave plantation period--there was little innovation. This is evident in that Solomon modifies tools and practices based on simple things he had seen in the North and these are huge innovations on the plantations that his masters praise him for. Unfortunately, it makes him too valuable to sell to the one abolitionist he encounters-- a man named Bass.

    Bass is a Canadian journeyman carpenter who finds work on the plantations. At one point he lectures Northrup's master on the equality of the races and how ungodly slavery is. Overhearing this, Northrup confides in Bass and Bass devotes his life to helping emancipate him, primarily by mailing letters to Northrup's acquaintances in the North. The Governor of New York is enlisted (by law) to begin the process of retrieving Northrup, and eventually an emissary is sent to find Northrup. It was providential that the emissary is directed to Bass just before he sets out on a long journey, and they are then able to find Northrup's plantation. Northrup's master and other authorities fight the extradition, but Northrup is freed and quickly returns to Washington, D.C. where his kidnapper is prosecuted-- and the case is dismissed for lack of evidence and due to witnesses who contradict Northrup. Northrup hopes his book's publication is some vindication, I believe.

    At last, Northrup returns home. Truly remarkable providence that he encountered Bass and that things worked themselves out as they did. Northrup ends the book by remarking that doubtless hundreds of other free men are enslaved in the South. One marvels that it would be another decade and hundreds of thousands of American lives lost before the institution would be ended.

    This is a 5 star book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is an extremely powerful and heart-wrenching book. If you're familiar with the movie, you know the story already. The book just has more to it, such as details of the workings of various plantation elements, how holidays were celebrated in slavery, and lots more really interesting stuff. His story is hugely impactful, and the details he gives are plentiful. It can be very disturbing at times, as it does contain a lot of violent scenes in depictions of how slaves were treated, but it is well worth reading, even if you have seen the movie already.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this book a few months ago and I was just so fascinated with it. It is a book that you do not want to put down. It reveals the harsh reality of what slaves had to put up with. It focuses on the life of Solomon Northup, a former slave who was once a free man but kidnapped into slavery for 12 long years. This book takes you through his enitre journey of being kidnapped until returning home. He is finally freed when he is able to write to family and friends and they come to prove who he is and that he is a free man. This book is for adult readers, in my opinion.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although one cannot inherently trust everything in an autobiography, this was a compelling tale. I can only imagine how I would feel if I were ever kidnapped and forced into slavery but I certainly sympathize with the author in his plight.

    Some chapters of the book bordered on tedium; giving detailed accounts of a slave's existence but, I understood the author's need to give an account in such a way. And of course, the boring parts of the story were offset with all the drama and excitement of the whole story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received this free from Story Cartel in exchange for an honest review.

    Wow, what a narrative! Solomon Northup gave a first hand account of what it was really like to be a slave in Louisiana in the mid 1800's, prior to the Civil War. He was obviously very well educated, as his writing and vocabulary surpasses what is the "norm" today. I both listened to the audio book, narrated by Louis Gossett, Jr., and read the printed book. I loved the audio best, however. It made me sick to hear how badly slaves were usually treated, like pieces of furniture, less than dogs, and for no reason, and at the whim of their masters. Yes, slavery was a way of life in the south, but it was a horrible way of life for the slave. I now want to find out more about Solomon and his family, what happened after he regained his freedom, how long did he live, and what became of his family and descendants. It's so very interesting, and is don't know if there are any other true stories written about slavery by slaves. I highly recommend this book, and now want to re-watch the movie (which I saw before reading the book, when it first came out).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A compelling read. Have read the 'Enhanced Edition' by Dr. Sue Eakins and am so impressed by the detail of her research of this historical figure. Highly recommend.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A gripping real life account of Solomon Northup, kidnapped from Washington city in 1841 and transported into slavery in Louisiana, where he spent 12 years before being freed. It is a moving account of his sufferings, but there were others such as Patsy—a slave whose master could not control his carnal desire for her, and whose mistress then had him punish her for it—who had it worse, and I wanted to sweep her up into my arms and take her away from all that. It surprised me that Solomon felt the need to include an appendix with copies of the legal documentation that proved he was a free man. To me this seemed to conflict with his notion that slavery was a legal and moral abomination. Nevertheless, history doesn’t get any more real than this.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The story of a free black man, Solomon Northup of New York, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the deep south before the Civil War. He tells of how he was tricked into going South, the trials he faced laboring as a slave for 12 years, and how he finally regained his freedom.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a very powerful memoir of a free man who is sold into slavery in the South. It is a very moving telling of the horrors of slavery.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Solomon Northup, a free man all his life, was kidnapped and sold into slavery, being transported to the deep South of Louisiana's rural bayous. He recounts his twelve years of forced servitude, 10 years of which were under the cruel master Edwin Epps, and his eventual rescue.I confess I had never heard of Northup, his plight, or his book until the recent movie was released. I had no interest in viewing the movie as I felt it would be too intense - both with the violence and the emotion. However, when the book came up as a choice for my book club, I was happy to vote for it and am glad to have done so now that I've read it. While there is certainly detestable violence and other situations that evoke strong emotions, the book allowed some distance that I feel a movie would not. Northup writes his account in a manner I found very effective. Although he had every reason to be outraged by his lot in life, he managed to write in a very reasoned tone and factual way. He lays out the account with a great deal of circumspect, making sure to describe only those things he was absolutely certain of and to make note of when he was simply making a supposition. He generally asked - sometimes directly - the reader to make his or her own opinions based on what he was reporting. Northup also makes great allowances for many of the slave owners of his acquaintance, noting how the culture they grew up in allowed them to be otherwise good people who were blinded to how the institution of slavery was an inhumane system. He elegantly says: "It is not the fault of the slaveholder ... so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives. He cannot withstand the influence of habit and associations that surround him. Taught from earliest childhood, by all that he sees and hears ... he will not be apt to change his opinions in maturer years. There may be humane masters, as there certainly are inhuman ones - there may be slaves well-clothed, well-fed, and happy, as there surely are those half-clad, half-starved and miserable; nevertheless, the institution that tolerates such wrong and inhumanity as I have witnessed, is a cruel, unjust, and barbarous one."This kind of forgiveness shows just how kind and educated a person Northup was and makes it all the more potent when he describes someone like Epps as savage and brutal; we know that Solomon is not choosing his words lightly when he defines his master as such.As an outsider to the institution of slavery until he was forced into it and as a Northerner by birth, Northup spends some time describing various things about his life in Louisiana, including the climate, the planting and picking of cotton, etc. Given that this was written long before the days of Google, let alone easy travel, it is perfectly logically that he should describe such minutiae to people who would be unfamiliar with it. Some modern readers may find this level of detail off-putting, but I appreciated that he took the time to describe everything so that it gave a very clear picture. The book also contains appendices including legal documents regarding how Solomon was eventually rescued from slavery through a legislative act of New York State.All in all, this was a very interesting read about a sad and dark chapter of one man's life - and one country's history. I'd very much recommend this book to anyone interested in U.S. history in general or African-American history.