The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island |
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Author:
| Griswold, Mac |
ISBN: | 978-1-250-05020-5 |
Publication Date: | Apr 2014 |
Publisher: | Picador
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | USD $30.00 |
Book Description:
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In 1984, the landscape historian Mac Griswold was rowing along a Long Island creek when she came upon Sylvester Manor, a stately mansion guarded by hulking boxwoods. When Griswold went inside, she encountered a house full of revelations, including a letter from Thomas Jefferson and--most remarkable and disturbing--what the aged owner, Andrew Fiske, casually called the "slave staircase." This staircase would reveal the extensive but little-known story of Northern...
More Description
In 1984, the landscape historian Mac Griswold was rowing along a Long Island creek when she came upon Sylvester Manor, a stately mansion guarded by hulking boxwoods. When Griswold went inside, she encountered a house full of revelations, including a letter from Thomas Jefferson and--most remarkable and disturbing--what the aged owner, Andrew Fiske, casually called the "slave staircase."
This staircase would reveal the extensive but little-known story of Northern slavery, and in 1997 Griswold returned with a team of archaeologists, uncovering a landscape filled with stories. Based on years of research--and voyages that took her as far as West Africa--Griswold has given us both the biography of a place that has witnessed war and reversals in fortune, and the riveting story of the family that has occupied it for three centuries. A fine-grained account and a sweeping drama,The Manor captures American history in all its richness and contradictions.