Stolen

The Astonishing Odyssey of Five Boys Along the Reverse Underground Railroad

By: Richard Bell

Narrated by: Leon Nixon

Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

This “superbly researched and engaging” (The Wall Street Journal) true story about five boys who were kidnapped in the North and smuggled into slavery in the Deep South - and their daring attempt to escape and bring their captors to justice belongs “alongside the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edward P. Jones, and Toni Morrison” (Jane Kamensky, professor of American history at Harvard University).

Philadelphia, 1825: Five young, free Black boys fall into the clutches of the most fearsome gang of kidnappers and slavers in the US. Lured onto a small ship with the promise of food and pay, they are instead met with blindfolds, ropes, and knives. Over four long months, their kidnappers drive them overland into the Cotton Kingdom to be sold as slaves. Determined to resist, the boys form a tight brotherhood as they struggle to free themselves and find their way home.

Their ordeal - an odyssey that takes them from the Philadelphia waterfront to the marshes of Mississippi and then onward still - shines a glaring spotlight on the Reverse Underground Railroad, a black-market network of human traffickers and slave traders who stole away thousands of legally free African Americans from their families in order to fuel slavery’s rapid expansion in the decades before the Civil War.

Impeccably researched and breathlessly paced, Stolen tells the incredible story of five boys whose courage forever changed the fight against slavery in America.

“Rigorously researched, heartfelt, and dramatically concise, Bell’s investigation illuminates the role slavery played in the systemic inequalities that still confront Black Americans.” (Booklist)

©2019 Richard Bell (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

I wish there was more to it

I finished and wanted to learn more. I know getting additional material is difficult. I'm glad I listened. Narrator excellent.

Phenomenal Research!

Loved the detailed accounts of the five young boys stolen & their journey.

I learned some new history!

Interesting take on slave trading

Hadn't know anything about the reverse underground railroad so enjoyed learning a bit about it. unfortunately, lack of original material hampers the story overall.

meh.

I learned a lot about a terrible time in the nation's history. For that reason alone I will remember this book.

Eye opening

This is quite a n education for me. Very thought provoking. This book is a testament to the memories of all those who have been held in bondage.

Should have been a fact based novel

While a compelling story, the large amount of speculative writing took away from my interest in Stolen. Large gaps in the story were diminished by the author’s guesswork about the thoughts of those who were kidnapped. Why not create a fact based novel instead?
The author’s repetitive quirk of listing by name each child was also annoying.
If it weren’t the topic for a meeting of my local Coming To The Table Book Circle, I probably would have quit before the ending.

Sad and uplifting at the same time

After slavery ended...there were still people who stole young children and then sold them to unworthy owners. Even though it was illegal, many turned a blind eye or were afraid to report it. The story shows the hardships and the struggles to prove they were stolen, children.

Boring

I thought this story would more but it wasn’t I’m upset I listened to the whole book