The Underground Railroad was published by Colson Whitehead in 2016. This novel describes in detail the journey of Cora, a runaway slave from Georgia. While the novel is technically historical fiction, it includes many speculative elements—importantly, the Underground Railroad itself is described as an actual train, rather than the metaphorical system of transport that it was. Cora’s journey is broken up with short chapters about other characters, including some white characters. In these chapters, Whitehead presents a complex view of the people whose lives were deeply touched by the institution of slavery. There are few characters that are all good or all bad. In this novel, Whitehead...
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