Twelve Years a Slave

In 1841, Solomon Northup was a free black man living in upstate New York, with his wife and three kids. His freedom ended abruptly one day, when two men named Brown and Hamilton tricked Solomon with a promise of a job in the circus. Brown and Hamilton were just looking to take advantage of the Fugitive slave laws in the U.S. at the time, and looking to collect a quick dollar by selling Solomon back into bondage. Solomon was first kept in a holding pen in Washington D.C., and held by a man named James Burch, who claimed that Solomon was his slave, which of course he was not. It is in the slave pen where he meets Eliza, once a mistress to her master with kids from him and had some measure of freedom but she was sold to another master and now resided in the slave pen. Eliza was living the life of a slave, and suffering the emotional devastation from that fact, by constantly weeping. Solomon was transported first to Virginia and then to New Orleans, where he was bought by William Ford, a relatively kind owner who also bought Eliza, but could not afford Eliza’s children, and therefor added to her constant state of melancholy. Ford was in debt so he eventually sold Solomon to a cruel master named Tibbeats who worked Solomon day and night whipped him regularly, and nearly hung him to death, if not for the actions of an overseer named Chaplin, and a 400 dollar mortgage put on Solomon by Ford, Solomon, now called Platt, would have been a dead man that day. After more severe treatment at the hands of Tibbeats, Solomon ran away from Tibbeats and back to Ford, but the happiness Solomon felt with Ford was not meant to last. Solomon was soon no longer the property of Tibbeats or Ford, he was sold to another slaveholder in Louisiana named Edwin Epps, who seemed to share the sadism of Tibbeats, and none of the small kindnesses of Ford, when Epps was drunk he was even more cruel to his slaves. Epps had a favorite slave, named Patsey from Guinea, she could pick cotton better than Solomon and better than any other slave, male or female for that matter, but the unwanted intentions of Epps and the unwavering jealousy of Mrs. Epps made Patsey’s life intolerable. She tried to bribe Solomon to kill her, but he did not. Solomon had resolved to gain his freedom from the brutal and sadistic Epps one way or another. He wrote a letter to his friends in the North and asked a man named Armsby to deliver it. Armsby had come to Epps plantation looking for an overseer’s job. He spent several days with Epps, and Solomon somehow trusted him with his freedom, but Armsby betrayed him and told Epps about the letter In 1852 Solomon wrote another letter and asked a carpenter’s assistant named Bass to deliver it to his friends in New York State. Bass was Canadian, and vocally anti-slavery, but would he deliver Solomon’s letter, and secure his freedom? There are not enough glowing adjectives to describe this book. If you care about history, this is a must read for you. This is real history, written contemporaneously after the events of Solomon Northup’s kidnapping, and subsequent life as a slave. There is no embellishment here, there doesn’t need to be. It is just one man’s story, his harrowing experience with the peculiar institution of slavery. Solomon is first kept in a slave pen in Washington D.C. and the irony of the fact that he is being held in bondage, while just a few feet away leaders speak of freedom, that irony is not lost on Solomon. He speaks so eloquently and powerfully about freedom, real freedom, from the perspective of a man who has just had his every freedom taken from him. Today, in the atmosphere of political hyperbole that we live in, many politicians and people speak of their ‘freedoms’ being taken away by this law or that. If they can still protest the fact that laws are impinging on their rights, they haven’t lost any freedom at all. Solomon’s relationship with God is an integral part of his story. Most people in his position would be bitter and angry, but he steadfastly believed that God would one day deliver him. I find Solomon’s faith remarkable in the face of what he had to deal with every day for 12 years. Moreover, Solomon described William Ford as a ‘good Christian.’ I personally don’t think anyone who owned people as property is a good Christian, but Solomon Northrup did, and that makes him a good Christian. I implore you to read this book, it is not an easy book to read, reading about man’s inhumanity to other men in such stark terms, but it is well worth the effort.

As slave stories go, this one is, in my view, without peer. Northup's s captivating tale -- which has gained attention because of the movie that shares the book's title -- is told in exacting detail with an easy prose. He sets the stage masterfully, describing people and places before proceeding into the narrative. Unlike works of fiction, this book is so compelling because, by all accounts, it is true. There is no polemical axe to grind, as with Uncle Tom (a novel at one point wryly referenced by Northup). Here you see both the brutality of slavery and the moments of kindness by slaves and even some slave owners. Solomon tells the story with clarity and intelligence. The free versions on other sites I found were pretty poorly formatted, so spending a dollar for a polished version on Amazon is worthwhile, but this one is not the best of them. Granted, the book is formatted adequately, and any typographical errors in this version seem to be simple reproductions of the original. However, the supporting material is a letdown. I read the version that includes the introduction by novelist Dolen Perkins-Valdez. That introduction is borderline insulting, as it makes only a weak attempt to separate accounts with fictional elements like Roots from an authentic account like this one. Worse still, Perkins-Valdez can't resist indulging in repeatedly referencing her own recently released slave novel, even going so far as to quote herself. There are almost no historical elements to this version beyond the main book -- no mention of Northup after the book, no mention of he writer who helped him pen the book, nothing. There is more information on the writer of the introduction than there is the author. One other oddity worth mentioning: the original book's preface -- the one done by the man who helped Northup write the book -- has been curiously excised from this version too. That makes this version something less than complete. For those looking for a better version, you might consider Twelve Years a Slave - Enhanced Edition by Dr. Sue Eakin Based on a Lifetime Project. New Info, Images, Maps , which contains a robust amount of supporting material and, better still, is right now the same cost as this version.

There are very few primary accounts of Slavery from people who experienced it, especially in written form. This book is probably the most well known of them all,and for good reason. It’s a genuinely horrifying read that depicts the terror a slave felt every day as they lived. This one is unique because it has a happy ending. I also highly recommend the movie adaptation of this book starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Plusieurs passages que j'aurais aimé voir apparaître dans le film, notamment ses tentatives d'évasion ou celles d'autres de ses compagnons de captivité, et le détail du système de l'esclavage que le livre nous explique plus ou moins dans le détail et nous montre comment, quand le coeur de l'Homme est décidé à acculer son prochain, il peut mettre en place des choses horribles. Après avoir lu ce livre, je me suis posée plusieurs questions... C'est dans des livres comme "The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself" ou dans des personnages comme Harriet Tubman (le livre qui a priori relate au mieux son action tenace contre l'esclavagisme: "Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero" , http://www.amazon.fr/Bound-Promised-Land-Portrait-American-ebook/dp/B002ZFGJK8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436434218&sr=8-1&keywords=Harriet+Tubman+Bound+For+the+Promised+Land), que mes questionnements se sont appaisés.

"Twelve Years A Slave" is a roughlly 300 page book that once you pickup you just can't put it down. It tells the story of Soloman Northrup, who actually is the writer, who was a second gen free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. For his kidnappers it was strictly for monetary gain. The sad thing is...how many others did this happen to who weren't able to regain their freedom! I read this book in one 24 hour period ( a working day, none the less ) and was totally engrossed in this riveting story. It is well told and is a bold, truthful statement on the evils of slavery, and how engrained it was into the life and culture of the south. The most salient point is that it was written by some one who was actually there. Not a narrative of some resercher 100 years after the fact. Amazing....It really was not that long ago that all this happened. Buy it.......1.99 is more than worth it. Its a great educational and eye opening read.

I found that the author had documented so clearly and articulately the journey into slavery he had the misfortune to experience. His graphic descriptions of the brutality and cruelty of the 'slaves' in the southern states is at times overwhelming! One scene in particular will haunt me. At no time did Solomon lose his sense of self worth and the belief that he would one day return to him family. A very moving and uplifting of the human spirit as opposed to the barbarism, cruelty and exploitation of thousands of innocent men, women and little children.

Dieses Buch gehört - genau wie "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" (Harriet Ann Jacobs) - in jeden Geschichts- und Ethikunterricht. Solomon Northrup erzählt seine Geschichte, sein Leid, die Ungerechtigkeiten und Unmenschlichkeit seiner Zeit auf unglaublich eindringliche und trotzdem irgendwie distanzierte Art und Weise. Oft hatte ich den Eindruck, er minimiert sein persönliches Leid zugunsten der Beschreibung der Schicksale einiger seiner Leidensgenossen. Zudem schildert er sehr plastisch die geographischen, politischen und allgemein sozialen Gegebenheiten seiner Zeit. Man hat davon schon oft gehört und /oder gelesen - man hat darüber gesprochen (und hoffentlich auch nachgedacht) . . . aber das Lesen und somit "Miterleben" aus der ureigensten Sicht und Erlebniswelt eines Betroffenen, hinterläßt doch ganz andere, viel eindringlichere Spuren als bloßer Geschichtsunterricht. Das Solomon Nothrup's Leidensweg sich in der Mitter des 19. Jhd. abspielt, ist die Sprache und Erzählweise dementsprechend etwas antiquiert - somit allerdings auch enorm authentisch. Mit nur grundsätzlichen Englischkenntnissen wird sich sicherlich mancher schwer tun, die Gesamtheit der sprachlichen Beschreibungen zu verstehen. Nun möchte man sagen, dass dies alles Leid, Ungerechtigkeit, Unmenschlichkeit einer vergangenen Epoche ist - tragisch aber lange vorbei. Ist das wirklich so ? Wenn ich überdenke, was in unserem heutigen, aufgeklärten, vernetzten Informationszeitalter alles an Menschenhandel abläuft, noch weitverbreitet Sklavenhandel und Sklaverei zum akzeptierten Alltag gehört, komme ich zu dem Schluß, dass dieses Buch leider kein Geschichtsbuch, bzw. die Teilautographie eines lang vergangenen Jahrhunderts ist, sondern eine Beschreibung der Demütigungen, Schmerzen, Erniedrigungen und Ausbeutung, die auch heute noch recht global verbreitet ist. Schon deshalb ist dieses Buch ein absolutes Lese-MUSS - nicht nur für den Geschichtsinteressierten, sondern für jeden, der seine Augen nicht verschlossen halten möchte und jeden, den mehr intereissert als die allgemeinen Alltagsfreuden unserer westlichen Welt. Das Leiden des Sklaven "Platt" ist vorbei - das Leiden der Zwangsprostituierten, Billigst-Sklavenarbeiter, Kindersklaven der heutigen Welt noch lange nicht !

A poignant memoir and a remarkable story set in one of the dark chapters of American history. This book must be read as a reminder of the unimaginable depths that human behavior can plummet. Scarcely could we imagine what great suffering can be inflicted upon fellow human beings. Written with great simplicity and honesty, a narration of slavery and freedom that is so moving at all times. Must read book.