Twenty Miles from Yesterday: The Saga of Anthony Bowen

Rating:
Summary: Applause for 20 Miles
Review: This book is a gem, reminiscent of Zora Neal Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God." With its authentic dialect, compelling characters and historic accuracy, it draws the reader into a world perhaps less familiar to us than we realize - Prince Georges County, Maryland during and after the War of 1812. Hargrave explores the institution of slavery from various angles: the perspectives of the slave; the "good" slave owners; the "bad" slave owners; the poor whites who also suffered under "the peculiar institution;" and the heroes - black and white - who risked their lives to bring people to freedom.

Hargrave found his subject matter in the true story of Anthony Bowen, a young slave who grew up on a large plantation in Maryland, purchased his own freedom, and later became a leader in the African American community of "Washington City." Hargrave had the opportunity to conduct much of his research via personal interviews with the 95-year-old Arminius Haynes, Bowen's own grandson, and this approach must have lent much to the novel's authenticity. "Twenty Miles" is for everyone who has ever considered what it means to be an American.