Review: Truth Is Far Greater Than Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2014
I can't take credit for the title of this review since it's a quote from Frederick Douglass:“It’s truth is far greater than fiction.” - Frederick Douglass, writer, orator, former slave and abolitionistIn rich and stunning detail and incredibly clear language, Solomon Northrup tells the tale of his capture and forced enslavement for 12 years, during which he had no contact with his wife and children. The hardships and degradations he suffered were representative of the treatment of many slaves, but his intelligence and language skill, and the fact that he had been a free man his entire life until then, allowed him to give voice to the injustice and cruelty of this inhumane practice.The story itself takes up the first half of the Kindle book, and the remainder consists of the notes, references, photographs and appendices compiled by Sue Eakin during her lifetime of scholarly pursuit of the truth of Solomon Northrup. Through exhaustive and painstaking research, she validates his life before, during and after enslavement, leaving no stone unturned in the process. Though you may be tempted to skim through some of this research, as I did, you will no doubt be left with the indisputable evidence of the truth of the story.