Thank you Macmillan Audio for accepting my request to read and review Flee North on NetGalley.

Genre: History | Multicultural Interest

Narrator: Rhett Samuel Price

Stars: 3.5

Focusing was difficult. This reads like an academic textbook. I visualized hours in the reference sections of libraries as well as sorting through newspaper archives.

The narrator has a nice voice, however, his performance didn't match my take on the text. There were spots that read like a news story, spots like a documentary and other spots presented like note cards, and perhaps this is what the author wanted; it didn't work for me.

There are a lot of facts. The material is dry. I prefer a smoother presentation with historical content.

I would recommend this for a fact-based smart reader.

“A riveting account of the extraordinary abolitionist, liberator, and writer Thomas Smallwood, who bought his own freedom, led hundreds out of slavery, and named the underground railroad.”

I love books that shine spotlights on otherwise overlooked historical figures, and this was no exception.

My favourite ingredient of this tale were the real-life, Letter-to-the-Editor type epistles from Smallwood to local newspapers. Not only was he fierce and intelligent, he was FUNNY.

I did find there was LOTS of extra, down-the-rabbit-hole, squirrel trails, but I really enjoyed them, rather than finding them confusing.

Thanks to NetGalley, Celadon Books, and Macmillan Audio for this fascinating ARC.

Flee North by Scott Shane was a well-written story about Thomas Smallwood who was born into slavery and his plight to freedom and to help others through the underground railroad. I really enjoyed this read, the author did an excellent job layout out the events of the story and the narrator was excellent.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I read this book on physical form and listened to the audio. I loved both! I learned so much and appreciated the knowledge that I had been given after reading this book.

I really enjoyed learning about Thomas Smallwood, a man who was born into slavery, purchased his own freedom, educated himself extensively, then helped hundreds of people escape North on the "underground railroad" which he himself named.

The reason I give this book four stars and not five is that in the beginning, the author states that Smallwood is often treated as a footnote in works that primarily focus on other abolitionists, most notably a man he worked with for some time named Charles Torrey, and then by the last third of the book Smallwood becomes a footnote as other abolitionists are discussed. I thought the information was very good and well presented, but the focus of the book got lost.

However I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about prominent abolitionists in the decades before the Civil War (Smallwood was largely operating in the 1840s), some of the politics involving slavery at the time, and how the domestic slave trade worked.

I listened to the audiobook and I would recommend this format. I liked that direct quotes were read in a character voice (for lack of a better word), making them easily distinguished from the book's original text. I will say that some place names may be pronounced in ways that could be difficult for locals to listen to "hag-ers-town" vs "hay-gers-town" for example, but personally I don't mind it.

I was blown away by the story of Thomas Smallwood who, among other things, was the first person to use the phrase, "Underground Railroad" in print to describe the network that supported the escape of enslaved people in the U.S.. Scott Shane has brought us a story I never heard before of this fascinating man. Smallwood was enslaved until he was freed at age 30, per the promise of his enslaver, Ferguson. The thumbnail story of Ferguson is, itself quite interesting. Ferguson taught Smallwood to read, although this was illegal. Smallwood then extensively educated himself. While Smallwood is the focus of Flee North, as we learn of his drive to help as many people as possible escape from the Baltimore/Washington area the story cannot be told without also learning about Charles Turner Torrey. Torrey was a white abolitionist from Boston who partnered with Smallwood in his endeavors, particularly at the beginning of his work.

Key to our comprehension of their work is an understanding of the slave trade at the time. So Shane also delivers a vivid description of a notorious slave trader in Baltimore. Hope Slatter built and owned a slave jail for those being sold (usually to the deep south) for various reasons. Among other things, Shane explains there was an excess of enslaved people in Maryland in the 1830s/40s because tobacco was no longer a viable crop. In addition to that were all the usual reasons we have heard in the past for sales of people: that an enslaver has debts, a particular enslaved person is a "troublemaker" or tried to run away, someone dies and their enslaved people are sold, etc.

Having grown up in an area of Pennsylvania that is (by car) under an hour from Baltimore and home to many "stations" on the Underground Railroad, the geography of Flee North at the start of each trip was familiar. Most of us with any interest in this subject know that The Fugitive Slave Act forced Northern states to support the return of runaways to their enslavers in states that still allowed the practice. Pennsylvania, bordering Maryland to the North, was a fairly friendly state to run to and through. Smallwood and his colleagues routinely went that way, heading to Philadelphia to move people up the coast by boat, train or on foot for Canada.

Smallwood not only took tremendous risks in his actions as a free Black man, but he wrote columns for an abolitionist newspaper Torrey edited in Albany, NY for a period of time. Smallwood, under a pen name, taunted those who lost their "property" to Canada thanks to him. He would name the former "owners" and publicly shame them for how they treated their "chattel." What distinguishes Flee North is that while it certainly describes parts of the journeys and escape routes, it primarily tells us about slavery and the trade in people during a period in the 1830s through the Civil War in one area, Baltimore and Washington. Shane evokes this period and, in particular what life was like for both free and enslaved Black people, the role of the local police in capturing runaways for significant payments, the danger of trusted people turning informers, the political status of slavery in the United States and how attitudes were evolving. The constant snippets about how various well known, powerful people, religious leaders, society folk etc. behaved, the incidents that exposed their true natures, the descriptions of different factions among abolitionists, how those who ran fared in Canada all make this a constantly interesting read. Ultimately, we follow the lives of Smallwood, Torrey, Slatter and their families to the end in an array of experiences that make this read like a novel. Shane, a pulitzer prize winning Washington Post Reporter painstakingly researched this history and writes beautifully. I highly, highly recommend Flee North. Five Stars.

Audio: NO. I cannot recommend the audio version of Flee North. Do not listen to this book as i did. I should say that Rhett Samual Price, the narrator's voice, intonation and emphasis when reading most of the book, the narrative parts, were excellent. But there was too much that was not even adequate:

First, if you are reading nonfiction or any book that names real places or real people, GET THE PRONOUNCIATION RIGHT. How can someone possibly record an entire book without finding out that the capital of New York is pronounced "All-bany" not the name "Al as in Alfred-bany." Chalk on a blackboard folks, because Albany comes up constantly.

I live a block from the Susquehanna River, pronounced, "Sus-kwa-hanna." It, too came up multiple times and was consistently pronounced wrong as, "Sus-kah-hanna." It jarred. Hagerstown, Md. is supposed to be pronounced with a long a, "Hay-gers-town." He pronounced it "Hag" like a witch. All of us who read a lot pronounce many words wrong because we do not look them up. If I were a professional reader, recording for a major company, I would look up names and get them right. It sounds amateurish to go with your best guess when I'd venture to say most people at least know how to pronounce Albany.

Second, someone made a decision that if anything from one word to a whole piece of correspondence was a direct quote, the narrator would voice it as a character, like is done with fiction. I would not have done this with a word or two even if the voicing was well done. It was distracting and disturbed the flow of the book to do this. Worse, this narrator would earn one star from me for his character voices and accents. It made me cringe to hear any first person speech in this history. The narrator seems to be a successful audio book reader but I personally will avoid listening to him again. That's rare for me. I would change my mind in a minute If I knew he would get pronunciations right and either ditch doing voices or learn more about how to create voices and use appropriate accents, Because I would give his narrative reading style (except for mispronunciations) five stars. So, Mr. Price gets 3 stars from me but he needs to become far more professional.

In the book Flee North we learn about the life of Thomas Smallwood A man born into slavery and even bought his own freedom his owners taught him to read at an early age in the early 1800s and he was treated like a carnival attraction because he was a black boy who could read. After buying his freedom he moved to Washington DC and after meeting another abolitionist is a white man name Mr. Tori. They would create a newspaper for abolitionist and the cause and their main enemy was A Maryland slave traitor name Hope Slater he even had a showroom down in New Orleans. Although Mr. Slater wanted to be seen as a respectable businessman due to the gross way he got his money he never quite made it but as a slave trader he was very popular. He would buy men women and children no questions asked and this is why he found his self in the court room multiple times throughout his seedy career. While Mr. Slater was procuring slaves Mr. Smallwood and Mr. Tori were setting them free they were the ones who created the Underground Railroad although Mr. Smallwood was the one who not only coined the phrase but went on many night journeys to help free slaves it would be the more palatable white Mr. Tori who got the credit something Mr. Smallwood never publicly begrudge Mr. Tori who died in prison for the cause. While Mr. Smallwood lived out his ears with his family in Canada a decision he never regretted throughout the book with hear horrible stories but even if the reader has just slight empathy for others will cause you to be angry the horrible ways they trick people into slavery or even back into slavery after being free it’s just mine boggling it makes you wander what would cause someone to turn on fellow humans in such a gross manner. From slavers getting black men to pretend to be running from slavery and then the ones that help them or cold and sold into slavery to offering people work on the ship and when they’re on board taking off to sell them into slavery it’s just horrible and it’s made me so angry how people could be this way teach other this book is so good but very emotional I have never heard of Thomas Malwood before but I am so glad the author Scott Shane soft it to write his story because it was so good and sad and infuriating but a book that I found hard to stop listening to. I thought the narrator did an awesome job and loved his narration. This was a phenomenal book I want to think McMillan audio and net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Well-written, engaging historical nonfiction book about a (previously) not widely-known abolitionist. The narration was exceptional!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC

Flee North is a well researched look at the beginnings of the Underground Railroad and at some of the players left out of popular histories of the time. Based heavily in direct source material from publications of the time this is a scholarly look at the early-mid 19th century in Washington and Baltimore. A great supplement for those that have read Four Hundred Souls, The 1619 Project, Stamped from the Beginning and/or How the Word is Passed.

Shane is a journalist by training, creating a well developed and organized account of the time, supported by remarks, writings, and primary sources. While unimpeachable, the focus on the words of the early 19th century can at times sanitize some of the horrors of the time.

For those interested I would suggest the print copy, the narrator goes over the top creating voices that start sounding very Foghorn Leghorn…

I am constantly looking to further my knowledge about slavery and the fight against it, so reading Flee North: A Forgotten Hero And The Fight For Freedom In Slavery's Borderland by Scott Shane was a learning opportunity I could not pass up.

To Kill A Mockingbird has been my favourite book for some time, and just as Atticus Finch represents Tom Robinson in the novel, I was happy to read about many real-life allies and antislavery activists - those willing to help others seek emancipation and freedom from slavery. Charles Torrey was one such man, working alongside Thomas Smallwood (who was absolutely incredible in his own right). The pair (along with others) risked everything to aid those wanting to flee from Washington, Baltimore, and surrounding areas. The bravery they embodied was absolutely incredible.

The audiobook narration was extremely well done; the narrator brought such life and movement to these words while always remaining respectfully tactful. The added newspaper articles and depictions in the physical copy were insightful additions and added interspersed proof of Smallwood's ever-present satirical humour.

I learned a lot from this book. I had no idea that slave families were not kept together as a unit; instead children, and spouses could be separated and sold to others at any time. The constant fear of this happening is insurmountable. I was also clearly naive, as I had no idea what kind of roll Canada had as many escaped, fleeing north along the underground railroad to the freedom present across the border.

Shortly after starting reading this book, I looked up Thomas Smallwood, only to discover that he is buried in the Toronto Necropolis cemetery. I will now make visiting his grave a priority in my life.

This book would be a beneficial read to many students and for those looking to learn more about the history of slavery in the Southern United States.

Thank you NetGalley, Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read, listen to and review.

FLEE NORTH: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland by Scott Shane is an extraordinary portrait of Thomas Smallwood.

I received this early copy by @celadonbooks and began to slowly digest this account, & then when I saw the audio and was granted access, I was thrilled! Narrated by Rhett Samuel Price, it was the best combination for learning about this formidable man. The narration gave the words a life of their own!

Thomas Smallwood is a man who deserves so much more recognition. Shane expertly shares biographical information in a way that feels riveting. The wit and bravery of Smallwood with his satirical articles and brazen calling out of slave owners was exactly the kind of narrative that shows the work Black Americans were doing to eliminate slavery.

Included here are also the stories of two other men who were forces in Smallwood's life, one as an ally, and the other a target of derision as a slave trader. Both propelled Smallwood in his mission in various ways and it was fascinating to see their lives as impacted by Smallwood.

I don't read as much nonfiction, but this was a heavy story that helped remind me that we have a way to go on equality. The things Smallwood wrote in the 1840's were profound and would likely be banned in Florida today.

Thank you to @celadonbooks, @NetGalley & @macmillan.audio for sharing this special story. September 19th is the pub date, so grab this and learn more!

Thomas Smallwood was a free, self-educated man who worked as a shoemaker close to the US Capital. He recruited a young white activist and together they began to organize mass escapes from Washington, Baltimore, and surrounding counties to freedom in the north.

All sorts of people and families turned to Smallwood for help.

This is his story and how he risked his own freedom to battle what he called “the most inhuman system that ever blackened the pages of history”.

As a lifelong learner, I seek out books that can shed light into areas I’m not very familiar with. This book did just that. I love listening to nonfiction on audio, and this one was no different. For me, hearing the facts makes them that much easier to process for me. The narrator did a fantastic job articulating the key points throughout the book, but it was nice to have the book to reference as needed. I did get a little lost in the details of this one, and would have preferred some things to be kept at a high level. Not that details are bad, just sometimes oversharing is not the best way to learn. However, it was easily apparent how much research went into writing this book, and for that I was thankful.

If you are going to listen to this one, I would recommend not multi-tasking and having a reference copy handy. It was just one I needed to focus on, not a bad thing, just a personal preference.

Thank you so much to Celadon books for sending me a paperback arc copy. Thank you so much to @MacMillianAudio and @Netgalley for the ALC copy in exchange for an honest review.