BOUND FOR CANAAN The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America

To many Americans, the movement of slaves from the South to freedom in the North or Canada was an exercise of morality in action. But the true story is far more complex, showing flawed people sometimes doing good things and others acting out of faith doing great things. The author portrays well-known figures, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, John Rankin, Levi Coffin, and John Brown. But he also describes several less well-known ones who each in their own way made the enterprise work. This personalization of story makes the nonfiction work sound almost like a novel. The author does the narration fairly well, but he sometimes runs out of wind at the end of long or emotional passages. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 05]