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Barbara asked this question about The Underground Railroad:
Does anyone like that the author wrote the railroad as a physical, operating one? I felt it unnecessary and beyond the scope of possibility.
Liz My frustration is that it will lead uninformed people to think that the "underground railroad" was literal. I grant the power of the metaphor, but con…moreMy frustration is that it will lead uninformed people to think that the "underground railroad" was literal. I grant the power of the metaphor, but considering how many people learn history through fiction, I cringe to think how many will completely misunderstand the actual, historical "railroad" -- which was much less organized than anything with tracks, even Colson's mysteriously unscheduled train, and which also depended far more on free blacks than most people realize. Well-intentioned whites played almost no role. (Yes, most houses built in the mid-19th century have weird little nearly inaccessible cupboards and unused spaces. That doesn't mean they were all stops on the underground railroad, it means architects were less concerned with using every available square foot than they are now.)(less)
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The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead (Goodreads Author)
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