Why the Book Celia a Slave Is Worth Recommending

Celia, a Slave

The historian uses both primary source material, such as the papers of Jefferson Davis, and secondary source material, such as other books and histories written on the time and place under discussion in the book. Thus, there is a good combination of the two that gives the story an overall accurate feel to it. For example, the author is able to convincingly recreate the world of the South before the Civil War and what it was like to be a slave in that territory. Even when missing pieces of the puzzle for lack of documentary evidence, the author does not invent "facts" to plug the holes but simply acknowledges that some portions of the narrative are unknown. This does not in any way diminish the story or its believability, though it may leave the reader wondering at some points.

Nonetheless, the sources are used well to explain the main point and the argument is convincing: slavery was a terrible institution that brought out some of the worst qualities in people -- like in the judge, for instance, who had already found Celia guilty before even trying the case (which ended up being a show trial anyway and a miscarriage of justice). The book as a whole was well written and well organized from start to finish and gives the reader a very sorrowful look into what life was like for slaves prior to the War and what they had to endure as a result of racism.

I was left with some questions about the subject of Celia -- for instance, wasn't there a way to help smuggle her to freedom? Couldn't something have happened to allow such an escape to be possible? Some more information on this aspect might have been telling about what was going on in the world at the time. Also, what others thought of the trial was interesting and why it proceeded in the manner it did was indicative of the tone and sentiment of the time. However, some more information about the judge and the jury would have been helpful in really coming to understand these people -- but that perhaps would have needed another whole book, so perhaps it is best left the way it is with some things just touched on enough to help the narrative flow towards its inevitable conclusion.