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Inside the front cover of his book, James Haskins states his thesis, which is proven exceptionally well throughout his book. "From the first blacks brought to this country in chains, slaves came up with ingenious ways to escape to freedom. During their long perilous journeys, most would not have survived without the Underground Railroad." (Inside of front cover) He adequately proves this thesis by collecting stories, myths, and history together into one book. Haskins covers all of the bases by giving stories that help by showing examples of each part of the Underground Railroad.
Haskins had a long history leading up to writing this book. He grew up in rural Alabama in an age when African Americans were still fighting for their rights. He remarked one time that "[He] was born into a society in which blacks were in deep trouble if they forgot about the real world. For if they daydreamed and were caught off-guard, they could pay dearly." (Something about the Author Autobiography Series) He was a hard worker and flew through high school and college. He learned to stand up for what he believed in and as he aged he began to fight more and more. He was once expelled from the University of Alabama after being arrested for marching the streets of Montgomery, Alabama with Martin Luther King Jr. He earned his Masters Degree in social psychology and his Bachelors Degree in History. He taught as a teacher in Harlem, where he kept a journal, which later became his first book. Haskins has written over 100 wonderful non-fiction books and most deal with matters strongly regarding African Americans. Many of these books have won highly regarded and prestigious awards clearly showing Haskins's ability to write well.
One of the best things that Haskins was able to do with this book was to collect so many stories and relate them to his thesis. His book covers stories of Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. to Catherine and Levi Coffin and Fredrick Douglas. Haskins' degree in history probably played a role in his ability to select so many stories. The way that he is able to flow the stories together also shows great expertise and knowledge.
Every book has its ups and downs and the biggest and most obvious down to this book is its organization. Haskins attempted to place so much information into a 12-chapter book and expected that it would flow and make good sense. The book is organized by the different aspects of the Underground Railroad, not chronologically, like a collection of stories should. Elizabeth M. Reardon, a teacher from Tennessee, said that, "[the book's] organization is potentially confusing to readers with no background in the subject, and the writing is often confusing." (School Library Journal, February 1993, 98)
Most of Haskins writing is fairly easy to understand and makes good sense. It is in modern English and reads exceptionally easy, similar to a children's book. Sometimes in the story, Haskins tries to force too much information into a sentence and the sentence loses its meaning and makes no sense or is hard to comprehend. A good example is when he its talking about routes on the Underground Railroad and says "One of the main routes through Michigan started in Cass County and went through Cassopolis, Schoolcraft, Climax, Battle Creek, Marshall, Albion, Jackson, and other towns along the route of the Michigan Central Railroad." (15) Other times the sentences make no sense at all. One example of this is "when discussing Harriet Tubman and why she was never apprehended in the South, Haskins writes: `Partly this was because she made sure she would not be informed on...'" (School Library Journal, February 1993, 98) These examples represent only a small portion of the work but help to show that Haskins sometimes gets strung up on tiny details and loses sight of expressing the bigger picture. He does a good job at expressing that bigger picture in the long run.
There are several well-known and well-trusted magazines that did research and reviewed this book. A few of these reviews go along with my opinion that it was a good and successful book, where as with everything, someone sees it from the other side. BH from the Center for Children's Books felt that "Like Virginia Hamilton's more general history of slavery...Haskins' book on the Underground Railroad will hold readers' attention by the sheer drama of the subject, which Haskins has organized and presented with a fine balance...Haskins has synthesized a massive amount of information here and has argued forcefully for the often downplayed role that African-Americans played in their own escape networks." (Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, March 15, 1993, 213) Another example that agrees with my point comes from Booklist and says, "...hundreds of [the Underground Railroad's] stories have survived, and as in Hamilton's Many Thousand Gone the best parts of this book draw on actual slave narratives." (Booklist, March 1993, 1046) These two articles help to support my position of the book by expressing the amount of information that Haskins brought together as well as how he proved his thesis and his style of writing. The articles also show consistency because both referred to the book's likeness to Virginia Hamilton's Many Thousand Gone.
Haskins used a descent array of sources to compose this book. He pulled from just over 20 tittles with subjects ranging from the civil war to music to slavery in general. He probably also used a lot of information that he gained through his lifetime from history classes or civil rights meetings.
This is an excellent book that I would refer to any classmate. It was very informative, well researched, and would appeal to all types of people. I feel that the thesis was proven very well and that the book serves its purpose nicely. This book is a very complete collection of information regarding the Underground Railroad.