The Garies and Their Friends - Softcover

Webb, Frank J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1438595220 ISBN 13: 9781438595221

Publisher: Book Jungle, 2010

Synopsis

The Garies and Their Friends was written in 1857 with a preface by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Frank Webb was a black man born in Philadelphia. Being one of the nearest free cities of any size to the slave territory, it was been a sanctuary for escaping fugitive or emancipated slaves. Mr. Garies was a slave-owning Southerner. His beloved wife was once a slave. They had two mixed-race children. To escape the racism of the South and the strict laws of Georgia prohibiting freedom for the children, the family moves to Philadelphia. They moved into a white neighborhood. Here they meet their remarkable "friends," including the middle-class and black Ellis family. They soon find out that Northern racism is different and equally dangerous. The wife next door is appalled by their new mixed-race neighbors, and her husband concocts a plot to rob the Garies of their wealth.

About this title

Review:

"This is an outstanding edition of Webb's powerful (and still relatively neglected) novel about the struggles of the free black community in pre-Civil War Philadelphia. The editors make the bold decision to use as their source text the 'Cheap Series' paperback edition widely circulating in London, where The Garies and Their Friends was published in 1857. They provide reviews, new information about Webb, and compelling contextual materials that help us to better understand the novel in relation to key legal and social contexts. Webb has been wonderfully served by Howell and Walsh. I couldn't imagine teaching any other edition, and the excellence of this edition should help to bring new readers to Garies." -- Robert S. Levine, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland, and author of The Lives of Frederick Douglass

"The Garies and Their Friends is one of the most interesting American novels of the mid-nineteenth century; the new Broadview edition finally gives it the editorial treatment it deserves. William Huntting Howell and Megan Walsh share supplemental documents essential to reading or teaching the novel, and they frame this work in a rich set of transatlantic contexts." -- Eric Gardner, author of Black Print Unbound: The Christian Recorder, African American Literature, and Periodical Culture

"Frank Webb's stunning novel comes alive in this accessible and informative edition edited by Howell and Walsh. The annotations are well crafted and will introduce readers to the broad racial, social, and literary contexts of Garies. The appendices are likewise well formulated to illuminate both the novel's reception and its key geographic and legal coordinates. This wonderful edition is a boon for new readers and also for those who are already familiar with Webb's novel." -- Jeffory Clymer, University of Kentucky, author of Family Money: Property, Race, and Literature in the Nineteenth Century

"This is an outstanding edition of Webb's powerful (and still relatively neglected) novel about the struggles of the free black community in pre-Civil War Philadelphia. The editors make the bold decision to use as their source text the 'Cheap Series' paperback edition widely circulating in London, where The Garies and Their Friends was published in 1857. They provide reviews, new information about Webb, and compelling contextual materials that help us to better understand the novel in relation to key legal and social contexts. Webb has been wonderfully served by Howell and Walsh. I couldn't imagine teaching any other edition, and the excellence of this edition should help to bring new readers to Garies." -- Robert S. Levine, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland, and author of The Lives of Frederick Douglass

"The Garies and Their Friends is one of the most interesting American novels of the mid-nineteenth century; the new Broadview edition finally gives it the editorial treatment it deserves. William Huntting Howell and Megan Walsh share supplemental documents essential to reading or teaching the novel, and they frame this work in a rich set of transatlantic contexts." -- Eric Gardner, author of Black Print Unbound: The Christian Recorder, African American Literature, and Periodical Culture

"Frank Webb's stunning novel comes alive in this accessible and informative edition edited by Howell and Walsh. The annotations are well crafted and will introduce readers to the broad racial, social, and literary contexts of Garies. The appendices are likewise well formulated to illuminate both the novel's reception and its key geographic and legal coordinates. This wonderful edition is a boon for new readers and also for those who are already familiar with Webb's novel." -- Jeffory Clymer, University of Kentucky, author of Family Money: Property, Race, and Literature in the Nineteenth Century

Book Description:

Originally published in London in 1857, The Garies and Their Friends was the second novel published by an African American and the first to chronicle the experience of free blacks in the pre-Civil War northeast.

About this edition

• Publisher: Book Jungle
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1438595220
• ISBN 13: 9781438595221
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 358