Book Summery
In the The Fiery Trial, Eric Foner states his intention, in the preface, to trace "the evolution of Lincoln's ideas and policies about slavery from his early life through his career in the Illinois legislature in the 1830s, his term in Congress in the 1840s, his emergence as a leader of the new Republican party in the 1850s, and his presidency throughout the Civil War". The book scrutinizes the speeches as well as the writings by Lincoln, and the direct assignations of prior Lincoln’s historians are evaded.
The Fiery Trial starts with Lincoln’s early life encounter with slavery, Kentucky and Indiana as he grows up. He dealt with the slavery issues occasionally in Illinois in his law practice. The book also addresses, in context off Lincoln’s career, his position on slavery. Lincoln is described as moderate and in the attempt to bridge the gap that was between the conservatives and the radical republicans. This included states with slave –holding people, who he thought and hoped to choose union preserving over defending of the slavery. The idea of deliberate colonization of black Africans who were freed was Lincoln’s primarily support. This position was also supported by some representatives at the time, although many reflected at it as unscrupulous. However, Lincoln eventually abandoned his moderate stance on slavery when he determined that he needed to act to end slavery for him to win the civil war in America.
The Road to Freedom is also dubbed American Black Moses. The book begins with Ms. Tubman’s communal attempt astonishingly happening after her role as an underground railway engineer. It then shifts back to earlier times as MS turban is born during the era of good feeling as a slave in Maryland. She then marries John Tubman then flees to Canada without him only to meet john brown in Canada. She works as a nurse in the political war and as a scout and in the underground railway. Ms. Tubman not only advocated for ethnic freedom but also supported the suffrage by women.
However, in his law career, Lincoln was known to represent slave masters. He was a party to more than one case that forced a woman who was once held a slave to be taken back to her master. With the increase in public sentiment against slavery and Lincoln’s career expanding, he became even more vocal in his distaste for slavery. Ms. Tubman’s life lack insightful information that are personal because of the slavery that she was and the fire in the 1850s. She provides a very overall look at the slaves’ condition in Maryland. With this generalization then the audience is in a position to tell how Harriet lived and spent her early years. More understanding is given in her central and later years of life with interesting details about the true hero of America.
Review
I concur with in this book. Plenty of new questions are raised by Foner. He breaks the histographical molds to a degree that no one expected this is seemingly striking for he has wiped the slate very clean. He has kept reference to the existing scholarly debate by stating that, “Many aspects of the slavery controversy were only marginally related to race” (p. 120). I think we have reason to thank God for Abraham Lincoln With all his deficiencies, it must be admitted that he has grown continuously; and considering how slavery had weakened and perverted the moral sense of the whole country, to elect someone who is willing to grow by the people was a good luck.
In the book Clinton navigates very smoothly through what we as human sometimes call and consider a complex material. Clinton tries to get closer to tell us about Harriet Tubman, how she saved slaves and showing them the way to live while in Canada. Clinton does this with grace and aplomb and tells us everything about this intentionally illusive conductor. Clinton draws as many sources as possible to paste as one a narrative about this amazing woman. Clinton digs into the secret of Ms. Tubman which ensured her survival. Clinton does find as many as possible even though few records exists about her secret life. Ms. Tubman started off as property hence her early stages were not notable enough to be recorded but Clinton brings all these. Clinton does a very good job of building, with very little information, her narrative.
As much as the book is enlighten, interesting and informative, it seemed to me that at some point the review got out of the topic. It talks more about the slavery and the civil war and it could take quite a while before it explained to us how what is said related to Ms. Tubman if at all it ever did.
In conclusion, Harriet Tubman’s biography by Catherine Clinton magnificently brings to life who for long has resided in hardly-remembered stories from elementary school and in children’s books. The biography is well-researched and eminently readable. On the other side, the book seems repetitive and there is too much use of fillers in the book. This book reveals the fact that there is little known about Harriet Tubman at the moment.
Bibliography
Clinton, Catherine. Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. January 23, 2004. Pp 1-288
King, Wilma. "Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom/Harriet Tubman: The Life and the Life Stories/Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero." The Journal of Southern History 71, no. 3 (08, 2005): 692-696, http://search.proquest.com/docview/215771556?accountid=1611 (accessed December 2, 2014).
Reynolds, D.,. The New York Times. September 30, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/books/review/Reynolds-t.html?_r=0.
Simon, Denise. Harriet Tubman: The Life and the Life Stories/Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. Black Issues Book Review, Jan, 2004. 60, http://search.proquest.com/docview/217752130?accountid=1611 (accessed December 2, 2014).
