As a native Liberian, a history major in college and a complete bookworm, I was delighted to find this book on Amazon.com. It covers what our ancestors experienced prior to and after their arrival in the "Dark Continent". The authors have cleverly woven into their story how and why current Liberian customs and cuisine have evolved. This is also an interesting read for non-Liberians to find out about this lost chapter in the history of slavery in the United States.

I only gave it 4 stars because it was slow in places, but it was worth it in the end.

The story of African Americans leaving the United States in the 1800s to find a better life else where seems quite unreal, but this historical novel uses that base to make a wonderful story. The use of character description and the creation of a new frontier give this novel a great base for developing into an interesting novel that will make you suggest this to your neighbors and friends. The cross-over of people and locations gives the chronological story a great way of how time passes by and people still move towards the ultimate goal, freedom in their own country of Africa. This story has the opportunity to become a great school-oriented novel if given the right direction. All-in-all, this novel would be great for anyone interested in history, African culture and/or Southern and Northern attitudes in America before the Civel War.

Freedom Ships is an exciting and informative historical novel about African Americans who managed to go back to Africa in 1820 to find the freedom denied them in America decades before the Emancipation. Based on a neglected chapter in America's history, elements of the Freedom Ships narrative are reconstructed from emigrant letters, diaries, official reports in the Library of Congress, and U.S. Navy and Congressional archives. A highly recommended and engaging novel, Robert Carey and John Furbay have successfully collaborated to write an epic story of freed slaves who dare to risk all dangers in a vast and unknown continent so that their children could escape the inhuman bondage and overwhelming racial prejudice of slave era America.

And in the center ring, standing somewhere between 5'8" and 5'11", Lee "The Assassin" Oswald!! And right there beside him, the man who has solved the Kennedy assassination more times than swiss cheese has holes, Robert "The Brain" Groden!! Now after a certain point, everyone feels that way. Bob Groden must be given his due: He has managed to squirrel away quite a collection of JFK visual materials, and the results are pretty stimulating. But the biggest problem comes in the text. Some of the sources and conclusions in this "definitive" text are open to quite a bit of speculation. Interpretation (this picture shows this, here we see Clay Shaw, and OHMYGoodness a Grassy Knoll shooter) could be easily contested.

This book is great for the coffee table as people WILL pick it up and WILL have great fun discussing it. Just be careful what kinds of words a picture can put into your mouth. Bob, I'd love to hear from you.