Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad (Thorndike Press Large Print Popular and Narrative Nonfiction Series) - Hardcover

Foner, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1410478513 ISBN 13: 9781410478511

Publisher: Thorndike Pr, 2015

Synopsis

Traces the workings of the Underground Railroad in slave-dependent New York by three heroes who coordinated with black dockworkers and counterparts in other states to help thousands of fugitive slaves between 1830 and 1860.

About this title

Review:

Mandatory, and riveting, reading. --Sam Roberts"

A terrific and powerful story. --Billy Heller"

There's suspense and drama on nearly every page Gateway to Freedom is more than the product of diligent scholarship, research and the listing of sources. Indeed, it's the art of historical narrative at its very best. --Jonah Raskin"

Intellectually probing and emotionally resonant, Gateway to Freedom reminds us that history can be as stirring as the most gripping fiction. --Wendy Smith"

Compelling by turns scholarly and gripping. --Alexander Nazaryan"

Once again, Eric Foner as scholar shakes American history and alters as he also rebuilds one of its foundations. Making brilliant use of an extraordinary, little-known document, Foner, with his customary clarity, tells the enlightening story of the thousands of fugitive slaves who journeyed to freedom along the eastern corridor of the United States. Many stories of individual courage illuminate a network of operatives both formal and informal that played a powerful role in causing sectional conflict and the Civil War.--David W. Blight, author of the forthcoming Frederick Douglass: A Life

Illuminating an invaluable addition to our history.--Kevin Baker"

Gateway to Freedom liberates the history of the underground railroad from the twin plagues of mythology and cynicism. The big picture is here, along with telling details from previously untapped sources. With lucid prose and careful analysis, Eric Foner tells a story that is at once unsparing and inspiring. For anyone who still wonders what was at stake in the Civil War, there is no better place to begin than Gateway to Freedom. --James Oakes, author of Freedom National

With remarkable new research and keen insight, Eric Foner vividly narrates stories of courage and resourcefulness by the men and women who helped antebellum slaves escape to freedom. Foner deftly illuminates the importance of the underground railroad in provoking southern leaders into issuing ultimatums that would culminate in civil war.--Alan Taylor, author of The Internal Enemy

Foner s gripping account of slaves struggles to free themselves reveals the immense risks they, and their sympathizers, took to escape bondage."

About the Author:

Eric Foner is the preeminent historian of his generation, highly respected by historians of every stripe--whether they specialize in political history or social history. His books have won the top awards in the profession, and he has been president of both major history organizations: the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians. He has worked on every detail of Give Me Liberty!, which displays all of his trademark strengths as a scholar, teacher, and writer. A specialist on the Civil War/Reconstruction period, he regularly teaches the nineteenth-century survey at Columbia University, where he is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History. In 2011, Foner's The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery won the Pulitzer Prize in History, the Bancroft Prize, and the Lincoln Prize.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Pr
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1410478513
• ISBN 13: 9781410478511
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 495