тАЬMaster of languageтАЭ (The New York Times) John Edgar Wideman uses his unique generational position to explore what he calls the тАЬslaveroad,тАЭ offering тАЬa fresh perspective of slaveryтАЩs impact and a confirmation of WidemanтАЩs exalted status in American lettersтАЭ (New York magazine).
John Edgar WidemanтАЩs Slaveroad is a groundbreaking work of тАЬbruising candor and obsessive originalityтАЭ (The Wall Street Journal). For centuries, the buying and selling of human beings was legal, and millions of Africans were kidnapped then forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean to serve as slaves. The enduring legacies of this slave road trafficтАФdenied, unacknowledged, misunderstood, repressedтАФcontinue to poison the experiences and journeys of all Americans.
In a section of тАЬSlaveroad,тАЭ called тАЬSheppard,тАЭ William Henry Sheppard, a descendant of enslaved Virginians, travels back to Africa where he works as a missionary, converting Africans to Christianity alongside his Southern white colleague. Wideman imagines drinking afternoon tea with Lucy Gant Sheppard, WilliamтАЩs wife, who was on her own slaveroad, as she experienced her husbandтАЩs adultery with the African women he was trying to convert. In тАЬPenn Station,тАЭ WidemanтАЩs brother, after being confined forty-four years in prison, travels from Pittsburgh to New York. As Wideman awaits his brother, he asks, тАЬHow will I distinguish my brother from the dead. Dead passengers on the slaveroad.тАЭ
тАЬA blend of memoir, fiction, historyтАЭ (The Millions), Slaveroad is a book that will inform, challenge, and surprise Wideman fans as well as newcomers to his writing.