AmySea

The Slaves' War does two very important things; firstly, it takes the Civil War and shatters any romanticism surrounding it. It wasn't romantic, it was an apocalypse. Secondly, it takes the institution of slavery and personalizes it. In this book slavery is not background to the Civil War. Instead, former slaves who lived through the Civil War are put front and center, and they tell us about the war through their eyes. The result is a first person account of the war, slavery, and Reconstruction that is far more real and relevant than what gets printed in the history books. If one wants to understand the Civil War's impact on the homefront, if one wants to witness the birth of Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement, if one wants insight into the roots of the social problems that afflict African American communities, then this book is where one should start reading.

The audiobook was excellently narrated by Richard Allen.