How the Word Is Passed- A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

4.7 (3)
$21.99

Product Details

Web ID: 15413297

This compelling important and timely Drew Faust, Harvard Magazine 1 New York Times bestseller examines the legacy of slavery in America and how both history and memory continue to shape our everyday lives. Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks, those that are honest about the past and those that are not, that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves. It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola, a former plantation-turned-maximum-security prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the 18,000-acre land for virtually no pay. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers. A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country's most essential stories are hidden.

  • Product Features

    • Suggested age range- adult
    • Format - paperback
    • Product dimensions - 5.5" W x 8" H x 1" D
    • Genre - social sciences
    • Publisher - Little, Brown and Company, Publication date - 12-27-2022
    • Page count- 352
    • ISBN- 9780316492928

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Ratings & Reviews

4.7/5

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10 months ago

GREAT read!

We often visit these historical sites, and tour guides have a set speech that, more often than not, does not include ALL of that sites history. In this book, Smith visits several sites and attends the tours. He mentions the rhetoric tour guides seemingly always espouse, speaking on how great of a person whomever is tied to that location was. The education system has a set standard for how we are taught, which is very similar if not the same as how tour guides teach. How the word is passed (literally) is extremely important, as we have been purposefully and intentionally taught half truths. Smith challenges the intentional half truths by bringing up additional facts while on his tours. Facts that have been purposefully withheld.

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

2 years ago
from Tennessee

Very informative

I am from south of New Orleans and thought I knew all the civil war sites in the area, I learned about some other disturbing places. I have been to most of the places written about but still learned new things from the book. It’s written in a way that draws the reader into understanding the atrocities and how the people in the area view that shameful era in American history. If I ever get back down there I stay away because so many of the people still have views I can’t abide, I intend to learn more from some of the sites the author writes about.. Another hard to put down non fiction book .

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

2 years ago
from Pittsburgh, PA

We all need to read this

This looks at the history of slavery by looking at places where it was practiced and a legacy remains--Monticello, Whitney Plantation, Angola Prison, New York City, Blandford Cemetary, Galveston Island, and Senegal. There are many more places that could be looked at for their stories. I learned a lot. My eyes were opened. Some I knew but most I did not. Now I cannot stay in ignorance any more. While I have not been to Monticello in over 20 years, I want to go back to hear what is now being taught. I have not been to any of the other places Mr. Smith shares the stories from. I have a lot to process and to assimilate with what I know and have learned outside of school. There is a lot of new information coming out from the voices of the oppressed and forgotten. I appreciate their voices being added to what was taught. I can form new opinions based on what I read and learn. We are only now getting a more complete picture of what happened in the past. I can get a more complete and realistic version of what occurred. If we don't learn from history, we will repeat it. I see that happening so much currently. This is a book I wish I had read when I was younger. It explains things so much clearer than the old history textbooks I had 50 years ago.

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com