"Highly readable and moving in its blunt description of slavery and of Brown's experience of shipping himself to Philadelphia."--Carlin Romano,
Philadelphia Inquirer"In the remarkable books that Brown left behind, horror serves not only as a surprisingly realistic medium through which to represent slavery, but also as a powerful means of resistance to it. The reader who steps into the the claustrophobic box occupied by Brown encounters an unforgettable reconstruction of the horror--slavery--upon which America itself was built."--
Chicago Tribune"Compact, engrossing.... An important work that is necessary for all who wish to appreciate the bitter harvest of our 'peculiar institution' of slavery."--
Booklist"A testament to ingenuity and fortitude.... An important and moving document."--
Library Journal"What distinguishes Brown's book is its incredible, though brief and uninflected, conclusion, involving one of the most impressive escapes in American letters.... What can be said of Box Brown can be said of slave narratives in general: only by appreciating their confinement can we understand their liberation."--
New Republic"Henry `Box' Brown's daring escape from slavery is one of the great creative acts in the struggle for black freedom. This is his story."--Cornel West, Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professor, Harvard University
"Richard Newman has performed a most outstanding and admirable service in restoring this rare and compelling text to a new generation of readers. Brown's story calls to mind in our own generation the determination to achieve democracy by oppressed people throughout the world. His story is just as relevant today as it was one hundred and fifty years ago."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University
"This long-neglected autobiography by a self-liberated ex-slave casts new light not only on the breadth of black resistance, but on the very genre of slave narratives itself."--Jill Watts, Associate Professor of History, California State University, San Marcos, and author of
Mae West: An Icon in Black and White