Product Description

Celebrated for her courageous exploits as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman has entered history as one of nineteenth-century America's most enduring and important figures. But just who was this remarkable woman? To John Brown, leader of the Harpers Ferry slave uprising, she was General Tubman. For the many slaves she led north to freedom, she was Moses. To the slaveholders who sought her capture, she was a thief and a trickster. To abolitionists, she was a prophet. Now, in a biography widely praised for its impeccable research and its compelling narrative, Harriet Tubman is revealed for the first time as a singular and complex character, a woman who defied simple categorization.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110911 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780316155946
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Clinton has an extraordinary knack of compressing complex history into an informing brief paragraph or a single sentence, making this "first full-scale biography" of Tubman (18251913) a revelation. To the task of illuminating the "difficult to document" life of the woman known as "Moses," Clinton brings her deep immersion in Southern history, women's history and African-American history. Succinctly, she sets the stage upon which Tubman moves, offering just enough biographical detail to give less well-known figures vitality (Mary Shadd Cary gets more space than Frederick Douglass; Union general David Hunter more than William Lloyd Garrison) and just enough historical detail to render Tubman's milieu meaningful (unfamiliar Canadian history gets more space than the familiar Fugitive Slave Acts). Although she often posed as an old woman, Tubman was in her 20s when she began her rescues, and in her mid-30s as the Civil War broke out. Clinton is meticulous (without being annoying) in distinguishing the speculative from the known in Tubman's private life. Of far greater consequence is Clinton's revelation of Tubman's public (though usually clandestine) work. In distinguishing between "runaways" and "fugitives," between "conductors" and "abductors... those who ventured into the South to extract slaves" ("all of them white men" before Tubman), in detailing the extent to which she "never wavered in her support" of John Brown, in chronicling her role in the Combahee River raid, Clinton turns sobriquets into meaningful descriptors of a unique person. In her hands, a familiar legend acquires human dimension with no diminution of its majesty and power.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
At long last Harriet Tubman, the subject of school myth and lore, has a full-fledged biography. Critics agree that Clinton does a remarkable job researching the life of a woman who left few traces; not only was she born into slavery, but she was also illiterate, and the Underground Railroad left no written records. Despite these obstacles, Clinton delves into university archives to paint a detailed portrait of Tubman's life--from her marriage, militant politics, and role in the Underground Railroad to her activism in the northern free black community of Philadelphia. Her significant contribution lies in placing Tubman's life smartly within 19th-century Southern history. In short, this graceful biography elevates Tubman from a minor cultural icon to a significant figure in American history.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist
Clinton, who has taught history at Harvard and has written 15 books, presents a full portrait of a complicated woman with deep religious convictions, incredible courage, and a passion for freedom. Tubman suffered from seizures and narcolepsy because of a head injury sustained when she tried to help an escaping slave. Her condition might have contributed to the constant visions she reported of fleeing harrowing circumstances and of danger signs that she often heeded to her benefit. Clinton recalls Tubman's vital role in the Underground Railroad; her relationship with other prominent antislavery activists of the time, including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, and Sojourner Truth; her espionage and other services provided to the Union during the Civil War; and her later involvement in women's rights issues. Also covered are Tubman's early marriage, her many rescues of enslaved family members, the mysterious abduction of a fair-skinned girl who may have been her own daughter, and her later marriage to a man nearly 20 years her junior. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

strong endearing biography
THE ROAD TO FREEDOM is a superb account of the American "Black Moses", Harriet Tubman. The book actually opens with Ms. Tubman's last major public endeavor surprisingly (at least to this author) occurring in 1908 long after her famous role as an engineer of the Underground Railroad. The bio then shifts back to the early nineteenth century as Ms Tubman is born during ironically the "Era of Good Feeling" as a slave in Maryland. It follows her as she marries John Tubman, flees to Canada without him, joins John Brown, works as a Civil War nurse and spy, and of course the Underground Railroad.. Of interest is that Ms. Tubman not only advocated racial freedom, she championed women's suffrage.

Ms. Tubman's salad days lack insightful personal information due to her slave status and a 1850s fire. Therefore Ms. Clinton provides a general look at conditions for slaves in Eastern Shore, Maryland. This generalization enables the audience to infer how Harriet probably lived in her early years. Deeper insight is provided to her middle and later years this is a suburb account that biography readers will appreciate because it is well written, easy to follow, and loaded with plenty on interesting detail about a genuine American hero. Though the author too easily accepts the "legendary" Tubman as gospel, HARRIET TUBMAN: THE ROAD TO FREEDOM is an endearing educational and entertaining book that history buffs and biography aficionados will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

Highly readable
This book is highly readable, and Clinton navigates smoothly through what is at times complex material. But I'm giving it 4 rather than 5 stars because it does not take advantage of the most current research in the field and at times, recycles myths which have been debunked...for example, the myth that there was a $40,000 bounty on Tubman's head.

Still, it does update much of what we learned about Tubman in our children's books, so I can recommend it to general readers. But I feel academics will be better served by Kate Clifford Larson's HARRIET TUBMAN - BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND.

Curator, AfroAmericanHeritage dot com

Let Us Now Praise Famous Women
Catherine Clinton has written a truly captivating and engaging biography of one of America's greatest heroes! Hooray! While I would love to add my review to the chorus, it seems that Publisher's Weekly, BookList, and Time Magazine--where I first read about the book have already given Clinton much praise for her stellar scholarship and meticulous evaluation of the sources. And while I certainly love a good debate, I must disagree with CreativeFolk; so the authors differ on a few points. I am just so happy that there is more to read! But instead of suggesting to you all another book on Harriet, I --like the author of the Time magazine article--see Clinton's book in a very fascinating dialogue with Jean Yellin's recently published biography of Harriet Jacobs. So, I recommend checking out both Harriet Tubman and Harriet Jacobs!

James Hart