"A comprehensive introduction to the life and achievements of the heroic former slave details how after managing her own escape, Harriet Tubman returned thirteen times to guide other slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, in a portrait that also relates her subsequent contributions as a wartime cook, nurse, spy, and suffragist." Harriet Tubman's courage and bravery saved her from a life of slavery. She escaped her owner and instead of disappearing, returned numerous times to help save others. She joined the Union Army where her heroism and bravery continued. During the war and after, she helped many former slaves start a new life. In the face of horrific circumstances, Harriet Tubman found strength and perseverance to make her life and the lives of other slaves better. ( )

David Adler’s book “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad” documents the life, accomplishments, and legacy of the former slave and Underground Railroad “conductor” Harriet Tubman. While the book is most certainly a biography, providing a birth-to-death account of Harriet Tubman’s life, it also contains a number of primary sources, illustrations, photos, and archival material, which “invite browsing as well as a cover-to-cover read.” (Bamford & Kristo, 2000, p. 26) For this reason, portions of this book could also be sub-classified within the “documents, journals, diaries, and albums” category of nonfiction.

The content of the biography is wide in scope and provides a thorough account of not only the major events of Harriet Tubman’s life, but also the surrounding historical circumstances that influenced her actions. Following an initial overview chapter, the book discusses Tubman’s birth into slavery and introduces the reader to the members of her surrounding family. Indications of Tubman’s resourcefulness are illustrated early on through an account of her negotiating a deal with her plantation master. Once she paid her slave owner a yearly fee, she was able to hire herself out and keep the additional money. This “small taste of freedom” (Adler, 2013, p. 21) evolved into a divine calling, which would lay the groundwork for the remainder of her life that would follow.

Shortly after her owner’s death, Tubman ran away to the home of a white Quaker woman, and this “safe house” functionally served as her first stop on the Underground Railroad. She was then directed to subsequent safe houses, or “stations” along the Underground Railroad, which ultimately led her to freedom in the North. As the biography describes, at the time Philadelphia was “a haven for free African-Americans.” (Adler, 2013, p. 29) From Philadelphia, Tubman would establish herself and begin to make connections and preparations to later “conduct,” what some historians believe to be, thirteen trips back and forth to the South on the Underground Railroad, freeing an estimated seventy slaves. According to the biography, “some studies estimate the total number of [Underground Railroad] passengers at more than one hundred thousand,” (Adler, 35, italics added) Notable “Stationmasters” included Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Susan B. Anthony, and John Greenleaf Whittier.

Despite what the title of the book “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad” may suggest, the content of the biography is not limited to that specific period of Tubman’s life. Following her involvement in the Underground Railroad, Tubman became a notable abolitionist and continued to serve others by aiding the Union Army in the Civil War. Over the course of the war, she served as a military nurse, a Union cook, and even a spy who was “sent behind enemy lines to bring back information on the number of soldiers and artillery.” (Adler, 2013, p. 95) All said and done, when Tubman’s life came an end in 1913 she had lived through slavery, the Civil War, the drafting of the Emancipation Proclamation, the ratification of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, and the beginning of the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

Harriet Tubman’s life was unquestionably significant, and David Adler’s book walks the reader through a substantial amount of information related to her courageous acts. While I appreciated the amount of detail he included, I occasionally found myself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of names, dates, locations and background information. The density of the information often took the book into more of a “textbook” direction, which caused me to lose focus during certain sections. It was essential for Adler to frame the historical context that Tubman was operating within; however, at times I felt like the book was floating between two textual worlds -- an engaging biographic narrative and a historical textbook account. As a reader, I always want both breadth and depth, but not at the expense of readability. The best information in the world does a reader no good if it is not delivered in a consumable form. I did not think “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad” was inconsumable by any means, just dry at times.

In looking at accuracy, it appears that David Adler has written other biographies about distinguished Americans, several of which have won awards (Parents’ Choice Award, Society of School Librarians International Honor Award, VOYA Nonfiction Honor List, School Library Journal Best Book, Bank Street College Children’s Book of the Year, etc.) According to the information provided in the back of the book, Adler seems both experienced and qualified to write about the subject.

The biography itself is filled with quotations, many of which are presented as Harriet Tubman’s direct voice. Due to the fact that she died in 1913, I was curious as to how accurate they were. In the back of the book, Adler includes a “Notes” section that cites the source of every quotation used. The section is prefaced with a note from Adler, and states that two of the books he used in his research ("Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People" by Sarah Bradford, and "Harriet: The Modern Moses of Heroism and Visions" by Emma Telford) were based on interviews with Tubman and were especially helpful. In the following “Source Notes” section it can be seen that these two books were cited repeatedly, which, in one sense, is good since they were both originally published while Tubman was still alive (1886 and 1905, respectively). However, at one point in the biography Adler states that “many people question the accuracy” (Adler, 2013, p. 112) of one of the two books, which raised concerns for me. Apart from my questions about the authenticity of the quotations, the remainder of the information in the book appeared very precise. The “Selected Bibliography” includes a substantial amount of legitimate sources, and several of the books were written by authors who were personally acquainted with Tubman (Sarah Bradford, Fredrick Douglass, Emma Telford, William Still).

“Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad” also features primary sources throughout that increase the book’s accuracy. Through the usage of photos, newspaper excerpts, maps, and document facsimiles, the reader can better visualize and absorb the content. In addition to these primary sources, the author utilizes a variety of illustrations to aid in the telling of Tubman’s story. Content-wise, the illustrations were helpful; format-wise, which I will discuss in a following section, I found the illustrations a bit distracting. The writing itself was relatively free of generalizations and appeared to be based on facts; however, there were a few instances where the author simply stated “according to one newspaper report” (Adler, 2013, pg. 35), or “according to one story” (Adler, 2013, pg. 21) and did not link the information to a specific source. Additionally, on most occasions involving newspaper excerpts, the document just appeared as text in a small supplemental information box. Perhaps the original documents no longer exist, but I would have loved to have seen what the actual newspaper article looked like.

In looking at the style of “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad,” the overall tone of the writing can be classified as either neutral or partisan depending the section of text being examined. As mentioned earlier, many of the informational sections in the biography were very matter-of-fact and written in almost a textbook manner. In contrast, much of the writing about the character of Tubman herself felt inspired. As a result, I found myself rushing through the longer, more informational sections about the Civil War battles, and then savoring the moments where the author was describing Tubman’s specific involvement.

In regards to the language, I would actually describe it as relatively complex and most suitable for high school and above. There were quite a few names and historical events to juggle, and the text structure itself was dense. As a result, I think the book would be fairly demanding for a younger or struggling reader. There were no real issues with clarity; the content was carefully organized and logically ordered. However, the reading as a whole required either some background understanding of the historical events that took place during Tubman’s life, or a reasonable amount of patience to absorb all of the compounding details included in the book. On more than one occasion I needed to flip back several pages to reaffirm my understanding of an event. The prose was not particularly rhythmic or vivid, but it got the job done (i.e. the author displayed his passion in the topic more through precision and depth, and less through emotionally driven language).

As far as organization is concerned, “Harriett Tubman and the Underground Railroad” is very easy to navigate. With the exception of a short overview chapter, the biography is structured chronologically and closely follows Tubman’s life from birth to death. Each chapter focuses on a major event or time period, and the transitions between sections are smooth and easy to follow. Each chapter has a title related to its content and an associated quote from (or about) Harriet Tubman. The table of contents is easy to find and interpret, and I felt I could flip to any point within the book and make general sense of where I was chronologically in her story. The biography features a robust index in the back, which breaks down larger topics into subcategories (ex: there are six subcategories under the heading “Civil War,” nine subcategories under “abolitionism,” etc.). The index also indicates with italics which pages include illustrations. Other appended matter includes an “Authors Note” (primarily focused on Alder’s family connection with the Civil War), a “Source Notes” section, a “Selected Bibliography,” a timeline of significant dates in Tubman’s life, and a “Picture Credit” section.

Format-wise, in addition to textual information, the biography included a wide variety of access features -- primarily photos, illustrations, maps, and sidebars. The photos were fantastic. I loved seeing actual images of Tubman at various points in her life, and was fascinated by some of the Civil War photos that were included. The illustrations, on the other hand, were fairly distracting. On an individual level, I thought each one was helpful in supporting the text, but as a whole set they seemed stylistically mismatched and cobbled together. I checked the “Source Notes” section in the back, and it appears that many of images were extracted from larger illustration collections or clip art libraries. It would have been much more effective if the author had stuck with one illustration style, or even better, employed an illustrator to create original pieces for the book. This lack of cohesion with the artwork contributed to “textbook” feelings I had while reading. There were also a few image placements that confused me. For example, at the beginning of Chapter Four (Adler, 2013, pg. 27) there is a section of text that explains the possible origin of the term “Underground Railroad,” and just beneath the text is an illustration of a slave escaping on the top of a train. If a person were to just perusing the book, or not paying close attention, he or she might walk away assuming that the “Underground Railroad,” was an actual train. There were other instances where the illustrations seemed to be placed either too early or too late, or the illustration just seemed unnecessary altogether. The sidebars (primarily newspaper excerpts) were interesting, but as I mentioned above, this feature could have been improved had the author included actual images of the newspapers, rather than just additional text in a box.

The cover of the book features a photo of Harriet Tubman, but overall doesn’t necessarily invite the reader in (note: actual cover is different from LibraryThing thumbnail image). From a design perspective, it was a little confusing to me. The photos of Tubman (on both the front cover and back) are very somber, but the type treatment is bright and almost whimsical. There just seemed to be a bit of an overall disconnect. The book has plain white end pages, and no other noteworthy design elements. I did think that the author chose provocative chapter titles, which greet the reader immediately upon opening the book. Titles like “Minty,” “Shout, You Are Free,” and “Ghosts, Cows, and Buried Treasure” certainly caught my attention right away.

Overall, while the book was not perfect, I did think the quality of the content ultimately outweighed the distractions. It was a more involved and time-consuming read than I imaged it would be, but I learned a TON -- and not just about Harriet Tubman. There were a significant amount of intersections with other related and noteworthy topics. Through Tubman’s story, I found myself also learning quite a bit about slavery, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, etc.

After conducting a Destiny search, I discovered that there are seven other books in the UNO collection about Harriet Tubman. Based on the fact that almost all of them appear to be below a sixth grade interest level, I would recommend adding this book. If a student was looking for a brief overview of Tubman’s life, one of the informational picture books in the collection might be a good place to start; however, if a student really wanted to dig into something more comprehensive, a book like “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad” might be a better option. Additionally, because the content of book intersects with so many other topics (slavery, the Civil War, Women’s Suffrage Movement, etc.) it may fill other collection voids as well.

As a teacher, this is a book that I would certainly consider using and would be most inclined to do so in a high school setting. Rather than using the biography as a whole, it is more likely that I’d want to utilize sections of the book in conjunction with other resources. Some of the individual chapters could easily stand alone as value-added background information for a variety of topics. The connection to a lesson/unit on slavery, or the African-American experience is a given, but the biography could also be used to provide students with an additional perspective on the Civil War or the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Aside from these direct connections, Harriet Tubman stood for many other, more universal values that are examined in both classic and modern literature. Her story is one of courage, discrimination, triumph, fear, persistence, loneliness, hate, and love. Nonfiction texts like “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad” can provide historical or real-world context for many of the books students will encounter in their ELA classes. When I consider the subject matter of last two ELA units I planned (To Kill a Mockingbird, and “Monsters”), portions this book would have fit into the curriculum perfectly.

Finally, this book supports multiple “Reading Reasons” that Kelly Gallagher describes in his book of the same title. If high school students were to engage with “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad,” it is likely that: a) their vocabulary would be challenged (supporting Reason #2: “Reading builds a mature vocabulary”), b) they would walk away with increased subject knowledge (supporting Reason #3: “Reading makes you smarter”), c) they would struggle with the difficulty of content, but benefit from the challenge presented (supporting Reason #4: “Reading is hard, and hard is necessary), and d) they would hopefully be inspired by the character of Harriet Tubman and motivated to courageously face the oppression in their own lives (supporting Reason #9: “Reading arms you against oppression).

I enjoyed reading “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad,” as well as the process of examining the biography on so many levels. This class has not only increased my understanding of nonfiction critique, it has provided ample opportunities to immerse myself in books that I would have normally passed over. I’ve never considered myself a nonfiction reader, but that is something that has certainly changed over the last two months.

Work Cited:

Adler, D. (2013). Harriet tubman and the underground railroad. New York, NY: Holiday House

Bamford, R. A., & Kristo, J. V. (2000). Checking out nonfiction K-8: Good choices for best learning. Norwood, MA: Christopher Gordon Publishers, Inc.

Carter, B., & Abrahamson, R. (1990). Nonfiction for young adults from delight to wisdom: Phoenix, AZ: Oryx.

Gallagher, K. (2003). Reading reasons. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. ( )

Carly Coakley
EDCI 6710
Dr. Austen
15 March 2013
Nonfiction Midterm: Book Review
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, by David Adler

1. Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad can be identified in the nonfiction category of “Biography, Autobiography or Memoir,” with aspects of the “Documents, Journals, Diaries and Albums” category. This book is identified as a biography because it is Adler’s account of Harriet Tubman’s life from her young childhood to her death, while also incorporating historical aspects of the time period during which she lived. However, Adler’s book goes beyond a biography and into the category of “Documents, Journals, Diaries” because of Adler’s extensive use of Tubman’s firsthand accounts and the accounts of those who were close to her. In this category, authors carefully research their topic and significant portions of the book are created around quoted information and eyewitness accounts. Adler’s book on Tubman relies heavily on interviews that were recorded with Tubman, and each chapter contains many of her actual quotes. The book also includes quotes from various individuals about their experiences with Tubman and the work that she did. Adler seamlessly incorporates these quotations, which help the book to flow. This category also requires that the authors use archival photographs and documents, which Adler definitely does; he includes both original photographs as well as illustrated portraits of key figures in the book. For these reasons, while Adler’s book can certainly be categorized as a biography, it goes beyond the scope of a traditional biography into the category of “Documents, Journals, Diaries and Albums.”

2. Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad is David Adler’s nonfiction account of Harriet Tubman’s life, her work as an Underground Railroad conductor and abolitionist, and also takes into consideration the realities of slavery and the Civil War during the mid-nineteenth century.

The author, David Adler, has written numerous biographies on American historical figures, such as Frederick Douglas and George Washington. His books have won a number of awards, including the School Library Journal Best Book and the NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. In an Author’s Note, Adler describes his personal connection to the Civil War and his reasoning behind writing the book on Harriet Tubman, further validating his purpose in writing this work of nonfiction.

In terms of accuracy, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad is a thoroughly researched book, and Adler includes a selected bibliography citing primary sources from the era who had firsthand experience with Harriet Tubman or the Civil War, including the autobiography of Frederick Douglas as well as William Still’s firsthand experiences while working with Tubman on the Underground Railroad. Adler also includes picture credits for all original photographs and drawings that he included in his book. Another aspect of the book that adds to its credibility and authenticity is Adler’s inclusion of newspaper excerpts from the time; most of the excerpts he used are taken from newspapers circulated throughout the black community, describing slaves’ experiences and attitudes at the time.

Adler writes in such a way that the reader assumes all of his material is based strictly off of fact; he even goes so far as to qualify certain information, stating that the original accounts may have sensationalized some aspects of Tubman’s life. For example, he writes that Sarah Bradford’s first biography of Tubman states that she took nineteen trips on the Underground Railroad, when in reality it was probably more like fourteen trips. If Adler is ever unsure of the fact, he always makes this obvious to the reader. For example, on page 29 he writes, “The information on Tubman’s first attempt with her brothers and on her successful escape comes from interviews with her many years later. Perhaps by then either she didn’t remember exactly what happened, or people were careless when they recorded her words. It could be that when Harriet Tubman first ran away she and her brothers wandered for a few weeks. Its also possible that after she ran off alone her brothers went looking for her, so they were missing, too.” When unsure of the facts, Adler always qualifies his writing and makes sure the reader understands that some aspects of Tubman’s life are not completely known. Adler uses an extensive amount of original quotes throughout the book, quoting both Tubman herself, as well as those who knew her or were living during the same time, which greatly validates the book as fact. Throughout my reading I did not sense a great use of stereotyping, anthropomorphism or teleology. Most figurative language used was when quoting Tubman herself.

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad focuses a great deal on Harriet’s personal life and struggles, but the wider scope of the book includes accounts of slavery at the time, other people’s experiences with slavery, the political atmosphere regarding slavery, as well as the Civil War and its aftermath. While the book definitely educates the reader on Tubman’s life, it simultaneously gives a much broader picture of the time period issues that all slaves faced. For example, Adler includes an entire chapter on the well-known abolitionist John Brown and his raid on Harper’s Ferry. Adler’s book is very much an in-depth look at slavery, the Underground Railroad, and the key players during the early to mid nineteenth century.

As far as style is concerned, Adler writes in a language style that is very much accessible for the target audience, which includes students from 7th to 12th grade. The language is not too advanced for these grade levels, and I would say the content is appropriate. I would not use this book in younger grades, as the content is at times rather graphic in terms of slaves’ treatment; although the book depicts the harsh reality of the time, it could be upsetting to younger readers. The language used is very vivid and reads in a rhythmic way. The language is precise and correct terms are used; Adler qualifies in the back of the book that in some cases he changed some of Tubman’s original words to make them easier to understand. In his source notes he writes that with the original sources that he referenced, the sources quoted Tubman extensively, “but in their efforts to capture her dialect they changed the spelling of simple words. “That” became “dat,” “the” became “de,” and “leave” became “lebe.” I found the practice sometimes awkward and difficult to understand, at at all times patronizing. Here Tubman’s words are recorded with proper spellings” (p. 131).

Adler implements many narrative episodes and quotes firsthand accounts, which really serve to draw the reader into the text and involve the reader emotionally. Likewise, his chapter headings serve to either direct the reader towards the chapter’s topic, or catch the reader’s attention. His chapters flow smoothly from one topic to the next. Adler does not write using many metaphors or figurative language; rather, his style is more straightforward and does not leave much to the reader’s interpretation.

While the language itself was very clear, I found the organization to be rather sporadic and unorganized. Within a single chapter Adler often jumps from recounting an aspect of Harriet’s life, to the life of another slave or different topic. At times, this organization or lack thereof confused me as a reader. While the book follows a mostly chronological format in a broad sense, in a single chapter Adler sometimes jumps forward into Harriet’s later life, or backwards to some event when she was younger. While I enjoyed reading accounts of other slaves’ experiences or about abolitionists involved in the antislavery movement, the organization of these accounts seemed somewhat random and made the book more difficult to read.

In terms of tone, Adler writes in a way that is clearly partisan, which is to be somewhat expected when writing on the topic of slavery. His tone is factual and the way that he writes is clearly anti-slavery in sentiment. Tubman is the heroine of the book, and he highlights the valiant efforts of many others who were involved in the abolition of slavery. One aspect that I found interesting was that he did not write about President Lincoln in an extremely appraising manner; rather, he wrote about Lincoln from the viewpoint of Harriet and many other blacks at the time – they were not sure whether or not they could completely trust him.

As previously stated, the organization of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad is predominantly chronological, however there are some instances within certain chapters when Adler either jumps ahead or back in time. Adler also begins the book with a Preface, which basically tells the reader from the very beginning who Harriet was and her significance in history; he then continues with Chapter One telling of Harriet’s young childhood.

The cover of the book has Harriet Tubman’s name in the largest font, with the author’s name above the title. On the cover is a photograph of Harriet as an old woman; this picture clearly conveys that Tubman was a strong woman who endured a great deal throughout the course of her life. It seems to invite the reader into her story; the reader wants to know everything that this woman went through. The back cover of the book contains no writing, only a picture of Tubman standing alone, presumably in her sixties or seventies. The book does not contain end pages, but includes a title page that precedes the Table of Contents.

The Table of Contents outlines each of the fourteen chapters and their respective titles. The chapter titles do not lend themselves to pointed information, but rather encourage the reader to ask question and wonder what the chapter will be about. The Table of Contents also includes the page numbers of Important Dates, the Author’s Note, the Source Notes, Selected Bibliography, Picture Credits and the Index. From the very beginning of the book the reader is aware of the sources, source notes, and index that can be used as reference tools.

The book’s index is located at the end of the book, after the author’s source notes and bibliography. The index is very complete and detailed, and includes every instance in which a term or person was mentioned. This allows the reader to clearly access a particular aspect of the book that he or she is interested in. The book does not include a glossary, but I do not believe one is necessary. Adler does a good job of defining and explaining different terms throughout the book, so if the reader wants to know more about a specific term, he or she can reference the index and then find that information within the text. Adler does not include a pronunciation guide, but in my reading I did not feel as though one was necessary.

Adler does not make use of sidebars within the text to add additional information about a topic in the text, but he does frequently use Inserted Information. Almost every chapter includes an excerpt from a newspaper at the time, which gives the reader a much better picture of the African American’s attitudes and beliefs about what they were experiencing during this tumultuous time period. It supplements the reader by giving him or her a better understanding of the whole picture. These instances of inserted information are always printed with a contrasting color as the background, which clearly draw the reader’s attention to the material.

Adler’s Bibliography contains the most useful sources that he used when doing his research, many of which are primary accounts of people living at the same time as Tubman. Adler also includes secondary sources that others have written about Tubman or the Civil War. Adler does not include notes that document his research process, nor does he state which sources were of more use than others. Because this book is written primarily for high school students, I would have liked to see Adler include a “further reading” section to point curious students towards additional books they could read if interested in abolition, slavery, or the Civil War. Another aspect worth highlighting is Adler’s inclusion of source notes for each chapter, which state the source that he used for all quoted material. This helps to add validity to Adler’s writing and research.

As previously stated, Adler includes a Preface at the beginning of the book, quoting Harriet’s basic life mission, as well as highlighting the important historical figures with whom she worked. This serves to set the reader up to hear her story, as well as highlight how important she truly was. At the conclusion of the book Adler writes an Author’s Note, which describes his family’s personal history with the Civil War, a main reason why he was interested in writing about Tubman and her work throughout the war. Many people know of Tubman on in relation to the Underground Railroad, but in her later life she worked as a nurse and cook throughout the war, helping hundreds of African American Union soldiers.

The visual displays in Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad provide the reader with a more complete picture of the time. Adler includes both original photographs as well as realistic drawings that were done at the time. This helps the reader to more clearly visualize the individuals and the more poignant scenes, such as black soldiers fighting for the Union in the Civil War. Another helpful visual aspect is Adler’s inclusion of a comprehensive timeline. On the inside panel of two pages he includes the important dates in Tubman’s life, and on the outside of the pages, corresponding to the years in Tubman’s life, he also includes more general historical reference points, such as the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, or when Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This timeline helps the reader to contextualize the events of Tubman’s life in the broader scheme of American history. Adler also includes one map at the beginning of Chapter 3, which outlines which states were considered “slave states” and which were considered “free.” While most students should know the general geography, this map serves as a helpful reminder.

Overall, I found Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad to be an interesting and insightful book about the life and times of this influential woman. I learned a great deal of information about Tubman’s work outside of the Underground Railroad, and found her role as a nurse in the Civil War especially interesting. This book was also interesting in that it provided a great deal of information on other aspects of the time period that were somehow related to Tubman’s life or her work.

3. As a high school social studies teacher I would definitely use this book in my class as resource during a unit on the abolition of slavery, those involved in the Underground Railroad, or as a different viewpoint when studying the Civil War. Because of its implementation of primary accounts, I think it provides a great resource for students studying these topics. I could assign this book as additional reading, or as a book that students could read for a project or book report. I think a great project would be for students to choose a historical figure and then research that person and either do a performance as that person or a report to the class on that person. For any student interested in Harriet Tubman, this book would be a fantastic resource. Adler also includes a great deal of information on other people involved in the abolition movement and the Civil War, and even as a graduate student some of the information was new to me; as a result, I would definitely recommend using this book in an American history course.

4. When I searched the keyword “Harriet Tubman” on Destiny, twelve other books appeared in the catalog, four of which are picture books for younger audiences. There were also about twelve books that appeared when I did a search of “Underground Railroad.” Despite the fact that there are quite a few other books on Harriet Tubman, I would still recommend adding this book to the collection because of its great use of primary sources and firsthand accounts. I also would recommend adding it because the book covers many other important people and events outside of simply recounting the life of Harriet Tubman; it goes into detail about many other key people and gives an interesting picture of the Civil War.

5. The Kirkus review of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad captures many of the same sentiments that were included in my review. It states that this book “offers an unusually coherent picture of her character as well as her place within both the major events of her times and the work of the Underground Railroad” (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/david-a-adler/harriet-tubman-and-underground-railroad). I thought that this book provided a very comprehensive look at Harriet’s life and included a great deal of historical information that was significant during her lifetime. The review also states that “Sheaves of small, period black-and-white portrait photos or engravings, plus occasional atrocity reports or editorials clipped from African-American newspapers give the pages a staid look overall.” The visual aspects of the book were another aspect that I particularly enjoyed as well. Overall, reviews for this book were positive, and especially highlighted Adler’s extensive research of the book. ( )