This is a heart-wrenching story of a slave in the southern part of the USA. She wrote her story after escaping and gaining freedom in the north. Her story is a sort of response to people who would (in those days and today, if there are any) defend slavery as not actually that bad. She uncovers, through her own testimony, how truly awful slavery was.

This book should be read today, not just to educate us about history, but to remind us that in many parts of the world (even the US) forms of slavery still exist. Unlike in the 19th century south, slavery is illegal pretty much everywhere today. Yet it is still prevalent. Books like this keep us from encasing ourselves in a shell of comfort as they remind us of the injustices occurring in our world.