Author: Christy Santo

A Slave No More tells the narrative of two men born, Wallace Turnage and John Washington, slaves who ran away and gained their freedom upon reaching Union troop lines during the Civil War.  The first part of the book, by author David W. Blight, expands on these narratives by telling their life stories and those of their wives and children after the Civil War has long ended.   Then the book shifts to the reading of the actual narratives word for word.  

The two halves of the book come together for a powerful and moving book.   I believe it is important to keep going back to reading or listening to different eras of history. And also to not cut these difficult parts of our nation’s history from being taught to students in school.  Racism and discrimination still take place today, which makes it all the more important to learn about the past, so hopefully, the cycle is broken once and for all.

Review of the audio book A Slave No More

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Years ago in school, I learned about John Brown and the raid on Harper’s Ferry.   I thought it was a quick fight with Federal forces taking Brown and his men down quickly.  Now, more than two decades later, I realize my memory is fuzzy and, in a few places, wrong.  In Horwitz’s book I relearn this piece of history; one of many different events that led to the Civil War.   First, Harper’s Ferry did not happen in one day.   It really took place over many days with the raider facing off against stationed troops at the Ferry and troops led by Robert E. Lee who took them down.

Also, the Federal government did not try the raiders for treason but Virginia itself did and did so in a hurry.   It did not take but a week or a bit less to try the raiders who still lived. Only a small number of them managed to escape capture and remain in freedom.

Although Horwitz’s book is not comprehensive nor long,  it is still very informative and grabbed my attention.   Also, I enjoyed the narrator Dan Oreskes’s reading of the book as well.   I plan to find other books by Horwitz either to purchase online or check out from my local library.  

Review of the audio book Midnight Rising

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Author Dorothy Wickenden tells the story of three women who helped fight for women’s rights and to bring about the end of slavery in the United States. She did research did into the lives of these women and those they worked alongside.

Harriet Tubman rescued about seventy slaves from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, bringing them along the underground railroad to the homes of abolitionists who gave them shelter until they reached their final destination – Canada. (Slavery ended in Canada on August 1, 1834) One of the places Tubman stopped at was Auburn, New York, where she entrusted slaves to Martha Coffin Wright, a Quaker and mother of seven, and Frances Seward, the wife of William H Seward, future Secretary of State in the Lincoln Administration. Later, during the Civil War, Tubman worked as a spy and nurse for the Union and took part in raids that liberated about 750 slaves from various plantations.

Martha Coffin Wright, not only took in freed slaves as they traveled on the underground railroad, she also worked with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She contributed to several women’s abolition and antislavery conventions as well as given speeches.  

However, unlike Tubman and Wright, Frances Seward did not openly show her racialism.  Instead, she chose to act as a political advisor to her husband and pressed him to do all he could to end slavery through every political post he held.   

Together these women fought hard to bring about change in the laws toward women and African Americans in America.  The battle was not easy, yet they pressed on their whole lives to make this goal happen and passed the mantle to younger generations to continue where they left off. 

​Wickenden’s book is both riveting and rich in history about the struggle for the women’s and African American right to vote, own property, obtain an education, to keep and care for their children and other rights that are still fought for (although in a different form) today. 

Review of The Agitators by Dorothy Wickenden

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In his early adult years, Grover Cleveland became a lawyer and it was not expected he would go much further than that.  However, in a short time, he felt the pull of politics. Within fifteen years, Cleveland would become a sheriff, mayor, governor and then President of the United States.  In all these positions, he held firm to doing what he told the people he would do and holding himself and others to being honest and act principled toward the people. 

 As a politician, Cleveland felt government must be limited, yet an economic depression, labor unrest, and the forces of American imperialism would force him to push his presidential powers to the limit.   As he did, he alienated many in government, including his own Democratic party.   Cleveland would go on to lose his second nomination for the presidency but would capture it in his third.   He is the only president to accomplish this. 

Cleveland reshaped the civil service in government, turning it from patronage to one that was earned by merit, reshaped monetary policy, regulated the railroad, and attempted to reduce tariffs.  The chapters on this are easy to understand and do not bog down the reader in technical words or terms. Overall, the book is enjoyable and can easily be heard or read in a day or less.

Review of A Man of Iron by Troy Senik

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In Burgoyne County, New York, abandoned and homeless adolescents are found hanging in horrible fashion. Law enforcement decide a serial killer is on the loose but they can’t narrow the suspect pool.   Nearby in the county’s small town of Surrender, Drs. Trajan Jones and Michael Li teach online profiling and forensics courses from the Jones family farm.  They used to work in Albany but were fired for shaming officials in too many cases. In which the officials got them wrong but the doctors got them right.

If they get any police work, it is through the sheriff’s department but never in an official capacity, only as consultants.   However, with the teenage deaths growing, the upper ranks of the police department secretly ask the doctors to help investigate the deaths.  At first they face skepticism about their insights, but it does not take long before it becomes apparent that the doctors may be targets to die for their accuracy.

Surrender New York, by Caleb Carr, draws on New York and Civil War history and draws from his book The Alienist.   I usually enjoy his books. However, the heavy use of curse words, even by minor children, and in front of adults who do not chastise them.  I realize an author makes his or her own choices and apparently Carr felt cure words fit with the setting of this book.  I do wish the audio book had a warning on it at the library that stated it has curse words, but alas, not.    Maybe you the reader can look past the curse words and like this book better than I did.

Review of Surrender New York by Caleb Carr

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