Twelve Years a Slave

[Mandy Muffin]

February is National Black History Month.  I try to include a significant black history book (history of fiction) in my reading program each February, and I didn't even have to look very far this month, as the Academy Award favorite for Best Picture of the Year is being offered in book form for the bargain price of 99cents.  http://www.amazon.com/12-Years-Slave-Solomon-Northup/dp/1493727540

[Mandy Muffin]

Having finished the book, I can say that it is well worth the read.  Published in 1853, it was a national best seller but soon faded.  However, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote the definitive book on southern slavery, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," never having been south of Cincinnati, took much of her material from this book. I thoroughly enjoyed an annotated edition of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" a few years back that has a detailed historical records associated with the classic.  http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Toms-Cabin-Annotated-Collection-ebook/d...

The true story takes the reader to the cane plantations of Louisiana, were another Oprah Winfrey Book selection, "Cane River" by Lalita Tademy also takes place in both the pre and post Civil War era.  http://www.amazon.com/Cane-River-Oprahs-Book-Club/dp/0446530522  This book interested me, as the author and I have a common ancestor, from the same town in France as her great, great grandfather, who plays a significant role in her story.  I wrote to her and received a thank you for reading her book and invitation to continue the story with "Red River," that was soon to be published. I did and enjoyed that book also.  I would also recommend these books as a National Black History Month reading. 

I can still smell the cane fields at harvest time, as I drove through those back roads on a vacation were I was visiting many of the old Louisiana plantations and bayou country.  All the above books will take you there if you want to smell the cane yourself. 

[Mandy Muffin]

How publicity and notoriety helps sales:

"The 19th-century memoir by ex-slave Solomon Northup jumped from No. 326 on Amazon.com before Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony to No. 19 on Monday afternoon."  Not bad for a book that was first published in 1853!  I expect it is still 99cents but Amazon may raise the price with this kind of interest in the publication.