In the Shadow of Liberty
The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives

Although this is a YA history, I enjoyed reading the factual information in it. The lives of the enslaved people serving the four presidents is interesting, much of it new to me. I haven't read too many YA books, so I can't really speak to that part. The broader issue of slavery is also dealt with,......more

I just wish this was better than it actually is. Maybe I'm just not the audience--the author apparently writes a series called "don't know much about history" and I have a degree in history--but even so, I don't think any audience deserves to be this condescended to. I mentioned in an update that it......more

Note: This book was selected from genre-based list, and is being reviewed as part of online course work; the review may reference other books from that genre-based list which I did not choose to read, or books read for previous weeks. ========================================= This was a very sobering......more

I thought this was a very good read. The history was interesting. He provided enough detail without getting bogged down in details. He gave us a good look at the early presidents and their stories with the enslaved people who worked closest to them. We tend to glorify these men because they are Amer......more

This is better than any textbook you'll read and digs deep into the politics of doing one thing and saying another and how founding fathers enslaved and even on deathbeds and afterward didn't free them. It's the kind of narrative nonfiction that credits the enslaved and their stories specifically in......more