A New York Times Notable Book Selection Winner of the Mark Lynton History Prize Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winner of the Lionel Trilling Book Award

Examines the impact fugitive slaves had on the Fugitive Slave Law and the coming of the American Civil War.

In this thoroughly researched documentation of a historically controversial issue, the author considers the background, passage, and constitutionality of the Fu

"Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised." So reads the legal defini