★★★★★ 5
But really it is a great, easy and fun read
Most people who pick this up are probably looking for history and possibly race issues. Which since it deals with slavery are there slightly. But really it is a great, easy and fun read. Many people act like they think they know what slavery was like. They act like slaves got whipped daily. This historical account actually verifies some things I thought might be actually going on. Really, just like today, the slave masters wanted to keep the slaves ignorant. Fred talks about how they tried to get the slaves to party and get drunk during holidays and has a solid working theory about the masters motivations for this. However, many times you could tell that slavery was really a system doomed to fail. Without incentivising the workers/slaves the output was minimal. Also, each slave master was different with some being bullies and some trying to be nice to get more work done. I added this book to get the free shipping with another order and as I white guy I thought reading this would be uncomfortable. But Whatever race you are I recommend this as a quick easy and fun read. Fred was an awesome dude who taught himself to read, had a wife became free and wrote a book, and even got in a comical fight with one of his slave masters. I wish more people today were like that guy. I think if he were alive today this guy would be a member of the Libertarian party. He had the type of soul that yearned for freedom.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2018
