content: I come to this book late--ten years after it was written. Looking at the other reviews, the better of which make my points (i.e,, infuriating anachronisms, unlikely plot and indifferent grammar), I see that this must have been one of the first salvos to political correctness. A National Book Award? It's the subject that wins and damn the actual execution of the book. Ten years later we have excellent books to go to such as Bell's "Slaves in the Family" and the wonderful collection of slave narratives from the Library of Congress archieves, called "Remembering Slavery." Skip the Johnson, it's bad history and worse writing.