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4.5
Edit—this is the link Amazon gave me so this is the edition I read. I read a 99¢ Kindle edition. There were some obvious typos and wrong words. It looks like it might have been done with optical character recognition. I only recall one or two sentences in the book whose real wording could not be divined. It was not so big a problem to interfere with my voracious reading of this outstanding book. I enjoyed the convenience of an cheap Kindle version, but I will likely purchase a critical edition in the future.This is not just an important historical document, it is a gripping story. Witten in eloquent English prose (with occasional Victorian flourishes in language as well as deference to public modesty), it offers a compelling tale rich with vivid and detailed descriptions of slave life on the lower Mississippi circa 1841–1853. Personally for me, as a white Southerner who grew up with the spectre of slavery in the United States heavy on my shoulders, I have not sought out much of this kind of material. Reading it turned out to be a revelation, bringing details into sharp focus—the specifics of the privation, the discomforts, and the wanton cruelty of that society. Just the fact that Northup initially finds himself with several other free persons who were abducted into slavery is chilling. It must have happened a lot, and in an era when by law no slaves could be imported into the U.S.—they had to come from existing "stock". So this business of abducting free men and women must have been a brisk trade in those days.Nor is this book a nonstop grind of horror. It is certainly harrowing, but there are moments of joy and humor (intended and unintended—there is a hilarious passage where he describes in his oblique Victorian way that he subdued a white man who tried to kill him by kicking him in the testicles). The description of slave Christmas is memorable and deeply melancholy. There is a very funny description of several slaves at a Christmas dance competing for the affections of a girl named Lively. There are also thought provoking observations about human nature and the times Northup lived in, as well as fascinating details about agricultural practices.I feel this book has deepened my compassion for my African-American contemporaries and the size of the problems they face. I look forward to reading more slave narratives. I remember being impressed by Frederick Douglass and his powerful, lyrical prose, but all I read has been things he wrote in the cause of Abolition. I am looking forward to reading his account of being born a slave and becoming literate under that condition, and gaining his freedom. It will present an interesting contrast with Northup's tale, since he was born a free man in the North, and was kidnapped and forced into bondage.Every American should read this book. I wish it was assigned in every public school in maybe seventh or eighth grade. This detailed look at the experience of slavery from the point of view of someone who was very intelligent with a great memory, a great stylist of English, and having the perspective of growing up a free man gives the reader a rare front seat to history in a gripping and satisfying story.
