The Underground Railroad

In Colson Whitehead’s razor-sharp imagining of the antebellum South, the Underground Railroad has assumed a physical form: a dilapidated box car pulled along subterranean tracks by a steam locomotive, picking up fugitives wherever it can. The first stop for escaped slaves Cora and Caesar is South Carolina, a city that at first glance seems like a haven. However, the placid surface masks an infernal scheme specifically designed for its unknowing black inhabitants. Even worse Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher whose been dispatched to find Cora, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom. As Whitehead brilliantly recreates the unique terrors for black people during the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America, from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once the story of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shatteringly powerful meditation on history.

Paperback: 384 Pages

Language: English

Format: Kindle Edition, Audiobook, Hardcover, Audio CD & Paperback