Cassandra Pybus adds greatly to the work of [previous] scholars by insisting that slaves stand at the center of their own history . . . Her 'biographies' of flight expose the dangers that escape entailed and the courage it took to risk all for freedom. Only by measuring those dangers can the exhilaration of success be comprehended and the unspeakable misery of failure be appreciated.--Ira Berlin, from the Foreword During the American Revolution, thousands of slaves fled their masters to find freedom with the British. Epic Journeys of Freedom is the astounding story of these runaways and the lives they made on four continents. Having emancipated themselves, with the rhetoric about the inalienable rights of free men ringing in their ears, these men and women struggled tenaciously to make liberty a reality in their own lives. This alternative narrative of freedom fought for and won is uniquely compelling; historian Cassandra Pybus's groundbreaking research has uncovered individual stories of runaways who left America to forge difficult new lives in far-flung corners of the British Empire. Harry, for example, one of George Washington's slaves, escaped from Mount Vernon in 1776, was evacuated to Nova Scotia in 1783, and eventually relocated to Sierra Leone in West Africa with his wife and three children. Ralph Henry, who ran away from the Virginia firebrand Patrick Henry in 1776, took a similar path to precarious freedom in Sierra Leone, while others, such as John Moseley and John Randall, were evacuated with the British forces to England. Stranded in England without skills or patronage during a period of high unemployment, they were among thousands of newly freed poor blacks who struggled just to survive. While some were relocated to Sierra Leone, others, like Moseley and Randall, found themselves transported to the distant penal colony of Botany Bay, in Australia. Epic Journeys of Freedom, written in the best tradition of history from the bottom up, is a fascinating insight into the meaning of liberty; it will change forever the way we think about the American Revolution.

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war.

Chosen by the Maker to do great things, a dreamer and unlikely hero named Chip leads the Whitefoot Mouse army to protect their royal family and defend their homeland against the invasion of domineering Brown Rats.

"During the American Revolution, thousands of slaves fled their masters to find freedom with the British. Epic Journeys of Freedom is the story of these runaways and the lives they made on four continents. Having emancipated themselves, with the rhetoric about the inalienable rights of free men ringing in their ears, these men and women struggled tenaciously to make liberty a reality in their own lives."--BOOK JACKET.

Yehuda Roitmentz is a boy growing up in pre-World War I Germany. His father is one of the few Jewish officers who served in the Kaisers army. His mother and uncle are determined to instill in Yehuda all the knowledge and traditions of his Jewish religion. He grows into an ambitious, well-educated man who takes over his fathers clothing factory and makes it thrive. However, everything changes when the Nazis come to power. Life becomes stressful, difficult, and even dangerous as anti-Semitic laws make earning a living almost impossible for Jews. Yehuda is soon forced to manufacture uniforms for the German army, even as he joins the resistance movement in the hopes of disrupting the Nazis as much as possible. Yehudas resistance earns him a place in a concentration camp, but he is able to flee to Poland. Now, he must find a way for his wife and their baby to travel across Germany to join him. How can one man stand up to the Nazi agendaespecially when the Gestapo has put him on their Most Wanted List? It will take ingenuity, heroism, but most importantly, love to triumph over those who wish him dead and to find the freedom he seeks.

A “deeply researched and bracing retelling” (Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian) of the American Revolution, showing how the Founders were influenced by overlooked Americans—women, Native Americans, African Americans, and religious dissenters. Using more than a thousand eyewitness records, Liberty Is Sweet is a “spirited account” (Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution) that explores countless connections between the Patriots of 1776 and other Americans whose passion for freedom often brought them into conflict with the Founding Fathers. “It is all one story,” prizewinning historian Woody Holton writes. Holton describes the origins and crucial battles of the Revolution from Lexington and Concord to the British surrender at Yorktown, always focusing on marginalized Americans—enslaved Africans and African Americans, Native Americans, women, and dissenters—and on overlooked factors such as weather, North America’s unique geography, chance, misperception, attempts to manipulate public opinion, and (most of all) disease. Thousands of enslaved Americans exploited the chaos of war to obtain their own freedom, while others were given away as enlistment bounties to whites. Women provided material support for the troops, sewing clothes for soldiers and in some cases taking part in the fighting. Both sides courted native people and mimicked their tactics. Liberty Is Sweet is a “must-read book for understanding the founding of our nation” (Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin), from its origins on the frontiers and in the Atlantic ports to the creation of the Constitution. Offering surprises at every turn—for example, Holton makes a convincing case that Britain never had a chance of winning the war—this majestic history revivifies a story we thought we already knew.

Jake Wilson once sought to replace the loss of his father with many vices including alcohol, drugs, and women. But Jake eventually turns his life around and becomes the man God always wanted him to be. Now, he and his wife, Terry, have formed a family centered on faith, love, and, most importantly, hope. As he opens his heart and home to his two daughters through a custody agreement, Jake has no idea that he is about to discover the answers to the challenges that still plague him from his past. As Jakes daughters slowly acclimate to living with a new family, Jake finds solace in his Bible study group. With his family of six packed in a three-bedroom apartment, Jake has no choice but to push his financial misgivings aside and begin searching for a larger home. Soon after he places his trust in the Lord through prayer, Jake stumbles onto an old farmhouse in desperate need of renovation and secretly wonders if the ramshackle dwelling is the answer to his prayers. In this inspirational tale, a man embarks on an emotional journey through his past, present, and futureand soon discovers that God always has a plan.