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Cover image for The Good Lord Bird
Format:
Book
Title:
The Good Lord Bird
ISBN:
9781594486340

9781594632785
Publication:
New York, New York : Riverhead Books, 2013.
Physical Description:
417 pages ; 24 cm
Contents:
Free Deeds (Kansas). Meet the lord ; The good lord bird ; The old man's army ; Massacre ; Nigger Bob ; Prisoner again ; Black Jack ; A bad omen ; A sign from God. -- Slave Deeds (Missouri). A real gunslinger ; Pie ; Sibonia ; Insurrection ; A terrible discovery ; Squeezed ; Busting out. -- Legend (Virginia). Rolling into history ; Meeting a great man ; Smelling like bear ; Rousing the hive ; The plan ; The spy ; The word ; The rail man ; Annie ; The things heaven sent ; Escape ; Attack ; A bowl of confusion ; Un-hiving the bees ; Last stand ; Getting gone.
Summary:
Fleeing his violent master at the side of abolitionist John Brown at the height of the slavery debate in mid-nineteenth-century Kansas Territory, Henry pretends to be a girl to hide his identity throughout the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859.

Henry is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1857. When his master has a violent argument with John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, Henry is forced to leave town with Brown, who believes he is a girl. Concealing his true identity as he struggles to stay alive, Henry is swept up in the events at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859.

"Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1857, when the region is a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces. When John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the area, an argument between Brown and Henry's master quickly turns violent. Henry is forced to leave town--with Brown, who believes he's a girl. Over the ensuing months, Henry--whom Brown nicknames Little Onion--conceals his true identity as he struggles to stay alive. Eventually Little Onion finds himself with Brown at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859--one of the great catalysts for the Civil War. An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBride's meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival."--Publisher's description
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