PGHwrites: Marcus Rediker “Freedom Ship” (Book Launch)

From the award-winning author of 2007’s The Slave Ship, we celebrate the book launch of Marcus Rediker’s latest work: Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea. Freedom Ship is a definitive, sweeping account of the Underground Railroad’s long-overlooked maritime origins, deftly navigated by Marcus Rediker, a pre-eminent scholar of Atlantic history and professor at the University of Pittsburgh. In this enlightening book launch event, Marcus will be joined in conversation by moderator Tony Norman, an award-winning columnist and feature writer.

Described as “A triumph of storytelling as well as of archival recovery,” by Amitav Ghosh (author of Sea of Poppies), Freedom Ship offers a groundbreaking new look into the secret world of stowaways and the vessels that carried them to freedom across the North and into Canada.

As many as 100,000 enslaved people fled successfully from the horrors of bondage in the antebellum South, finding safe harbor along a network of passageways across North America now known as the Underground Railroad. The truth often untold? Many of these harrowing escape journeys took place not by land but by sea. Deeply researched and grippingly told, Freedom Ship sprawls through the intricate riverways of the Carolinas, to the banks of the Chesapeake Bay, to Boston’s harbors, illuminating the little-known stories of freedom seekers who turned their sights to the sea—among them the legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, one of the Underground Railroad’s most famous architects.

Marcus Rediker puts his command of archival research on full display in this luminous portrait of the Atlantic waterfront as a place of conspiracy, mutiny, and liberation. Freedom Ship is essential reading for anyone looking to understand the complete story of one of North America’s most significant historical moments.

Purchase a copy of Marcus’ book, Freedom Ship, at City of Asylum Bookstore.

About the Author:

Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His fifteen books, including The Many-Headed Hydra (with Peter Linebaugh) and The Slave Ship, have won numerous awards and been translated into nineteen languages worldwide. He produced a prize-winning documentary film, Ghosts of Amistad, directed by Tony Buba, and a prize-winning play, The Return of Benjamin Lay, co-written with Naomi Wallace. His most recent book is Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea, published by Viking-Penguin.

About the Moderator:

Tony Norman is an award-winning columnist and feature writer who began his career at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1988. He became the paper’s pop music/pop culture critic in 1989 and a general interest columnist who wrote about race, politics, and culture in 1995. In 1999, Tony joined the PG‘s editorial board and regularly appeared as the closing commentator on KD/PG Sunday Edition from 1999-2005. Tony took a Knight-Wallace Fellowship sabbatical at the University of Michigan from 2005-2006. In 2012, Tony was named the PG‘s book review editor on top of his column and editorial duties. In 2016, Tony left the PG‘s editorial board. In 2022, Tony left the PG after three decades and joined NEXTpittsburgh. Tony continues to write for NEXT as a freelance feature writer. He also appears at PublicSource. His opinion columns appear regularly at Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

About Your Visit: 

The in-house restaurant Cucina Alfabeto is open for dinner from 5-10pm. Please visit Open Table or call 412-435-1111 to make a reservation.