Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life

by Beverly Lowry

Book Overview

From the award-winning novelist and biographer Beverly Lowry comes an astonishing re-imagining of the remarkable life of Harriet Tubman, the "Moses of Her People." Tubman was an escaped slave,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385721773
• ISBN13: 9780385721776
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Book Sale

Excellent Book! The sale and transaction were flawless and I would recommend this seller 100%! Will use again!

Harriet Tubman

Sad but true a must for those who believe we can learn from past mistakes.

(RAW Rating: 4.5) Legends never die!

Beverly Lowry does not intend for this book to be a book of intense scholarship, she just wants to share Araminta Ross Davis' (Harriet Tubman) story as she imagines it. Few exploit of free or enslaved persons capture the American imagination as deeply as Harriet Tubman's. The grandeur of her spirit is intensely sensational, almost mythical. Tubman's life spans some ninety-one years, from 1822-1913, which Lowry has divided into four electrifying parts. Tubman is still one of the most fascinating persons of the dark period through which so many suffered. And she has to be one of the truest representations of the 'women's movement' as will ever be seen. She was an escaped slave, lumberjack, laundress, raid leader, nurse, fund-raiser, cook, intelligence gatherer, Underground Railroad organizer, and abolitionist. Those periods of Tubman's life garnered names too numerous to cite. Two of the most familiar are Moses, as she led slaves to the promised land on the tracks of her legendary 'Railroad', and "the General", so dubbed by John Brown when she scouted for the Union army. You wonder if people today are interested in such a dark heritage or the horrific details that were our beacon to this station? But I digress. At the time of her interviews, Tubman lived in central New York State, in the town of Auburn. Since she could neither read nor write, she could not record any parts of her story, so aside from the interviews, much of it comes second or third hand. Yet, her story still offers a challenging opportunity for writers of nonfiction. In HARRIET TUBMAN: Imagining A Dream, Lowry creates a portrait that transforms the legendary icon into flesh and blood. Lowry brings this American hero through a vastly unpleasant life without the burden of too much detail and without going off-point. This is truly a reader's book, as Tubman takes us on slave-freeing raids and onto the battlefields of the Civil War; it invokes deep imagination and vicarious meandering. Lowry presents Tubman's story with good pace, good suspense, and the warmth of an enigma who literally gave her life to people. Humbling! Reviewed by aNN of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

In a 12-step program or love someone who is?

Wonderful and inspiring read. The author explores Tubman's spirituality as she herself used it to live a truly outstanding life. In a 12-step program or love someone who is? This book exemplifies how to "live in constant contact with the higher power of your personal choosing (Alcoholic Anonymous Big Book)" and what an extraordinary and fulfilling life that can result. Case in point - Harriet's mom is not grateful to be saved from slavery and moved up north where it is cold all the time and never lets Harriet forget it. Yet she responds with serenity even as she hides in a closet to get away from her nagging. She then asks for and takes direction from her higher power. Bill W. could not have written it better.