William Wells Brown

William Craft

Daphne A. Brooks

Henry Box Brown

Jeffrey Gonda

"The four former slaves represented here met only once. Yet each attained legendary stature in the anti-slavery battle--and justly so, for their escapes are among the most dramatic ever recorded"--P. [4] of cover.

Four Slave Narratives

The Great Escapes

Jeni Enjaian

This book falls neatly into the now nearly classic genre of slave narratives. (With those two words also being in the title, it would be a problem if it did not.) This book is obviously propagandistic, having first been published as a piece of abolitionist literature. (I am making an easy assumption here. I do not off the top of my head know the exact provenance of this particular piece of literature.) Normally, this type of propaganda would make me instantly dislike a work. This book serves a secondary purpose as an excellent piece of primary evidence for the historiography of the time period. That being said I do have a couple points of critique. One, I do not understand why there are two similar but distinct Henry "Box" Brown stories sandwiched between two other unrelated narratives. The compiler of the original work makes no effort at explaining why two such stories were included. Two, the distinctly preachy nature of each narrative is quite the turn off make it difficult to finish the work.
I recommend this book for all interested in studying the time period and to those interested in reading through the classics.

The Great Escapes Four Slave Narratives

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