Twelve Years a Slave
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup is an illustrated edition published by Penguin on July 31, 2012, featuring 304 pages in English. This memoir recounts the harrowing experiences of Northup, a free man from New York who was deceived, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in 1841. His narrative provides a vivid account of his twelve years spent on a Louisiana cotton plantation, offering a unique perspective on the brutal realities of slavery in 19th-century America.
Readers will find a detailed exploration of Northup’s life, capturing the stark contrasts between his early freedom and subsequent captivity. The memoir delves into themes of personal struggle and resilience, while also providing historical context about slavery in the United States. As one of the few accounts written by someone who experienced both freedom and enslavement, this work contributes significantly to the fields of biography, history, and ethnic studies, making it a critical resource for understanding this dark chapter in American history.
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Now the major motion picture that won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita Nyong’o, and directed by Steve McQueen
Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation.
After his rescue, Northup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its unusual insight and eloquence as one of the very few portraits of American slavery produced by someone as educated as Solomon Northup, or by someone with the dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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