Most Popular Books by SOLOMON NORTHUP

Having been born a freeman, and for more than thirty years enjoyed the blessings of liberty in a free State-and having at the end of that time been kidnapped and sold into Slavery, where I remained, until happily rescued in the month of January, 1853, after a bondage of twelve years-it has been suggested that an account of my life and fortunes would not be uninteresting to the public.

When the editor commenced the preparation of the following narrative, he did not suppose it would reach the size of this volume. In order, however, to present all the facts which have been communicated to him, it has seemed necessary to extend it to its present length. Many of the statements contained in the following pages are corroborated by abundant evidence-others rest entirely upon Solomon''s assertion. That he has adhered strictly to the truth the editor, at least, who has had an opportunity of detecting any contradiction or discrepancy in his statements, is well satisfied. He has invariably repeated the same story without deviating in the slightest particular, and has also carefully perused the manuscript, dictating an alteration wherever the most trivial inaccuracy has appealed. It was Solomon''s fortune, during his captivity, to be owned by several masters. The treatment he received while at the "Pine Woods" shows that among slaveholders there are men of humanity as well of cruelty. Some of them are spoken of with emotions of gratitude-others in a spirit of bitterness. It is believed that the following account of his experience on Bayou Boeuf presents a correct picture of Slavery in all its lights, and shadows, as it now exists in that locality. Unbiased, as he conceives, by any prepossessions or prejudices, the only object of the editor has been to give a faithful history of Solomon Northup''s life, as he received it from his lips. In the accomplishment of that object, he trusts he has succeeded, notwithstanding the numerous faults of style and of expression it may be found to contain. DAVID WILSON. WHITEHALL, N. Y., May, 1853.

The three most important aspects of 12 Years a Slave: 12 Years a Slave presents a startlingly accurate and verifiable account of the common slave experience in the United States in the antebellum (pre-Civil War) South. From start to finish, basic facts about the time, the places, the people, and the practices of the day are incorporated, sometimes in excessive detail, into Northup''s story. He speaks with authority on all subjects of his enslavement, naming names and pointing out landmarks along the way. In doing so, he dares skeptics to refute his story, knowing that public records and common knowledge would defend it.

"Twelve Years a Slave" is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details his being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. He was in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana before he was able to secretly get information to friends and family in New York, who in turn secured his release with the aid of the state. Northup''s account provides extensive details on the slave markets in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, and describes at length cotton and sugar cultivation and slave treatment on major plantations in Louisiana. The memoir has been adapted as two film versions, produced as the 1984 PBS television film "Solomon Northup''s Odyssey" and the Oscar-winning 2013 film "12 Years a Slave". The Golden Eagle World Classics Collection is a collection of pioneering works that shaped the understanding of human history and philosophy. Each work is accompanied by hand-selected, black-and-white artistic illustrations to convey the ideas of the authors. From Austen to Shakespeare to Tolstoy, this collection contains the most influential thinkers across various centuries. The canon aims to provide a literary foundation to understand the past, the present, and the future of humanity. For more information on the collection, please go to www.GoldenEaglePublishers.com.

El mejor testimonio sobre la epoca mas sombria de la historia estadounidense son las desgarradoras memorias de Solomon Northup, un afroamericano nacido como hombre libre en Nueva York. Las escribio despues de haber pasado doce anos esclavizado en varias plantaciones de Luisiana. Corria el ano 1841 cuando fue enganado, secuestrado y vendido. Desaparecio sin dejar rastro. Su relato es sobrecogedor y su punto de vista, inusual, pues Northup conocio de primera mano que significaba ser un hombre libre y ser victima de la esclavitud. Su valioso libro ha subsistido por ser una cronica sobre el mal y el lado oscuro del ser humano, pero nos lega asimismo un bello tratado acerca de la amistad y de la superacion.

Twelve Years A Slave. / Narrative of Solomon Northup, A Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation Near the Red River, in Louisiana / Seventeenth Thousand.A powerful and apparently true firsthand account from a free black man sold into slavery and his first to be free again.Twelve Years a Slave is gut-wrenching stuff written by an immensely readable writer. Northup''s journey is incredible...almost too incredible to believe. One has to continually remind oneself that he was not born into slavery, nor was he taken from overseas. His education is evident. This is no ignorant man denied an education and made to struggle along communicating with English as an untaught second language. In his accounts of his time upon Louisiana plantations he often is clearly more intelligent than his masters. So accustomed have we become to hearing former slave accounts relayed in some kind of pidgin English that it makes this cleanly and concisely related narrative seem like a fabrication.The brutality is so finely detailed, the complete lack of justice so well elucidated and the story unfolded so seamlessly, that a reader wouldn''t be faulted for mistaking Northup for an established novelist.

Slave recounts the author''s life story as a free black man from the North who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War South.The son of an emancipated slave, Northup was born free. He lived, worked, and married in upstate New York, where his family resided. He was a multifaceted laborer and also an accomplished violin player. In 1841, two con men offered him lucrative work playing fiddle in a circus, so he traveled with them to Washington, D.C., where he was drugged, kidnapped, and subsequently sold as a slave into the Red River region of Louisiana. For the next twelve years he survived as the human property of several different slave masters, with the bulk of his bondage lived under the cruel ownership of a southern planter named Edwin Epps. In January 1853, Northup was finally freed by Northern friends who came to his rescue. He returned home to his family in New York and there, with the help of editor David Wilson, wrote his account in 12 Years a Slave.

Solomon Northup (1808-1857) was a free-born African American from Saratoga Springs, New York. In 1841, he was kidnapped and forced into slavery for twelve years. With the help of his family and his father''s former master, Northup ultimately won his freedom and took the traders who betrayed him to court. He is best known for his autobiographical account of his enslavement, Twelve Years a Slave.This book is the story of Solomon Northup, a free man of color, living in the North during slavery. Solomon is tricked, drugged and sold into slavery. His pleas of being wrongfully enslaved are met with a beating so severe that he keeps his true identity a secret from that point on. For the next twelve years, he''s sold to several ruthless, vicious and despicable slave owners. He''s beaten and mistreated mercilessly, yet he never gives up hope of finally proving who he really is.This story is absolutely heartbreaking and difficult to read, yet it''s a story that must be told and should be read by everyone. Few could deny that slavery is among the most shameful acts perpetrated by one culture of people upon another. Reading a first-hand account of the atrocities of slavery details a much more compelling depiction than could ever be found in any history book.Sadly, Solomon''s story isn''t unique, as there were many free people of color who had been sold into slavery by opportunists looking to make money at that time. Yet, his account of his twelve long and torturous years as a slave is a gripping and dramatic journey, as engaging as any novel. Five Complete WorksFive remarkable accounts of slavery in America. Works included:* Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup* includes original illustrations!* Uncle Tom''s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe* includes original illustrations by Hammatt Billings!* Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass* Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs* Up From Slavery by Booker T. WashingtonAdditional Resources:* A comprehensive list of the many film and television adaptations of the slave narratives included, as well as additional list of depictions of slavery in film.* Links to free, full-length audio recordings of the narratives included in this collection, as well as other slave narratives by other authors.