Putting a Personal Face on a Historical Icon

In the first few pages, this book offers a more intimate and humanizing portrait of Harriet Tubman than I have ever read. It seems that history books like to herald her work on the Underground Railroad but miss out on representing her personal history--this book begins by giving backstory, which it sees as important to understanding Tubman as a whole. I love the way the narrative switches between her own mind and her conversations with others, because Tubman's internal narrative helps explain historical context like the fate of her family and the trajectory of different cultural groups within the system of slavery.