From Edward P. Jones comes one of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory—winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.The Known World tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the … never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can’t uphold the estate’s order, and chaos ensues.
Edward P. Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities.
“A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon.”—Time
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Edward P. Jones takes the reader on a unforgettable journey. This book takes place in the South and revolves around the people on a plantation owned by an African-American who bought his freedom. To fit into the culture he buys slaves of his own. I reread this book every summer.
This book should be required reading. Winner of the pulitzer prize. It’s been a while since I read it, but it is about slavery. The main character’s name is Moses and his story is well worth the read. This is historical fiction which I like.
Wow. This book is a hard pill to swallow- but it would have been infinitely harder to have lived it. The matter of fact descriptions of the horrors of human beings “owning” human beings who are then considered “property” rather than persons simply keeps marching toward death- the only real freedom. Oh yes- it mostly takes place in the period of …
Not since Toni Morrison’s incomparable Beloved has the devastation of slavery been approached with more complexity and emotion than in Jones’s epic, The Known World. What’s most fascinating about Jones’s book is that he explores the lives of slaves owned by a black slave owner, Henry Townsend. After the death of Townsend, the book charts the …
The older I get the more I realize how inadequate my history education was. By reading historical fiction, I have been intrigued to explore little known facts from history. This book was no exception. I had never heard nor ever considered the fact that there were black slave owners in America. But, apparently there were.
This book follows the …