The Underground Railroad is a historical fiction novel by American author Colson Whitehead, published by Doubleday in 2016. The alternate history novel tells the story of Cora and Caesar, two slaves in the southeastern United States during the 19th century, who make a bid for freedom from their Georgia plantation by following the Underground Railroad, which the novel depicts as a rail transport system with safe houses and secret routes. The book was a critical and commercial success, hitting the bestseller lists and winning several literary awards, including the Pulitzer …
The Underground Railroad is a historical fiction novel by American author Colson Whitehead, published by Doubleday in 2016. The alternate history novel tells the story of Cora and Caesar, two slaves in the southeastern United States during the 19th century, who make a bid for freedom from their Georgia plantation by following the Underground Railroad, which the novel depicts as a rail transport system with safe houses and secret routes. The book was a critical and commercial success, hitting the bestseller lists and winning several literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award for Fiction, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. A TV series adaptation written and directed by Barry Jenkins was released in May 2021.
English language
Published May 2, 2016 by Little, Brown Book Group Limited.
Through the different places visited in the novel, Whitehead takes us on a tour of the different way the United States has oppressed Black people throughout its history. The story is compelling, but at times alternately horrifying and depressing.
"[...] E a América também é uma ilusão, a maior de todas. A raça branca acredita - acredita do fundo do coração - que é direito dela tomar a terra. Matar índios. Guerrear. Escravizar seus irmãos. Se há qualquer justiça no mundo, esta nação não deve existir, pois suas fundações são assassinato, roubo e crueldade. E no entanto aqui estamos."
In 'The Underground Railroad', de Colson Whitehead.
