Overview:
Slavery was a vile institution but it was more complicated than all slaveholders as evil. Some slaveholders had much gratitude, while others had much bitterness. This is an autobiography of Solomon Northup, who was born free in the northern states, but was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the southern states. Going from a hard worker making a comfortable living, to a tireless worker barely living. From having a family, to being in constant peril. A detailed account is made of the tortures, and the different labor uses of slaves. There were people along who treated enslaved people well, and others who helped Solomon stay alive and regain his freedom. This is a story about the value of freedom.

Solomon’s father had given his children an education, setting different expectations of them than did society. Solomon himself married Anne, with whom he had children. Through hard work and diligence, the family made a comfortable and happy living. Solomon was always looking to work, and avoid idleness, which attracted him to the offer to play his violin in other states. Unfortunately, Solomon also accepted to stay with the party while it went to play in the southern states. Although Brown and Hamilton incentivized and helped procure papers to show that Solomon was a free person and not a slave, Solomon ended up being kidnapped in a southern state with the papers missing. Solomon is not sure whether Brown and Hamilton had anything to do with his kidnappers, as they were friendly towards Solomon and cared for Solomon’s welfare. But because the consequence was becoming a slave, Solomon does not think of them too charitably.

The slaver known as Burch tortured the freedom out of Solomon. Solomon did not yield his claim that he was a free person easily, but thought it wise to go along with the claim of slavery for that would give him better prospects of escape. It was either go along and become a slave, or lose his life. After that Solomon was a slave to different slave masters. Looking kindly at some slave masters for their treatment. Making easy acquaintances with people in similar condition as he was, but also gaining some ill will. There were more than a few times in which Solomon’s life was in jeopardy. For Solomon, kindness would have made slaves more obedient than deadly weapons.

Problems?
The writing is sometimes easy to read, but the syntax prevents flow as it makes it more difficult to read. There might be a problem with the narrative of the story, given in such detail years after the events. It is unlikely that the events happened exactly as the details are laid out. But the general context is acceptable, with proofs and sources.
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Don't be off-put by the Victorian language. We can blame Northup's editor for that. The book is a must-read document. I would have found the story too incredible to believe if not for the painstaking research of Clifford Brown, Rachel Seligman, and David Friske who drew on original sources for their biography, Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years A Slave. ( )

It might be a challenging read for folks who prefer short, common words. It's a well told depiction of the culture of slavery in Louisiana, including interesting details of work on a cotton plantation. ( )

It's difficult to sum up the twelve years of anguish and agony experienced by Solomon Northup when he was a free man living in New York, swindled, kidnapped, and enslaved - for twelve years. Written in the 1800s by Mr. Northrup and brought to our modern attention in 2013, Twelve Years a Slave is remarkably written, such good and proper King's English, so flowing and beautiful, his words, so savage and unconscionable his treatment. We should all take a lesson from Mr. Northup in his ability to lean into his situation yet never give up hope. He survived the worst of the worst and lived to reunite with his wife and children and tell the tale. We, humans, have done some awful things; slavery is one of the worst, and as a white American, I hang my head. ( )

Slavery