In this well-researched and vividly written biography, Towson University historian Diemer (The Politics of Black Citizenship) spotlights the crucial contributions of William Still (1821--1902) to the abolitionist movement. A leader of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Still helped turn Philadelphia into a crucial juncture of the Underground Railroad, though his contributions have been overshadowed by other conductors, including Harriet Tubman. Still was motivated, according to Diemer, by his own mother's flight from slavery in Maryland, and in the meticulous records he kept of the Underground Railroad, Still highlighted the bravery of enslaved men and women who attempted escape. Diemer also delves into Still's ideology of Black self-sufficiency and tracks his journey to becoming a prosperous coal merchant and one of Philadelphia's wealthiest Black men. Also recounted are Henry "Box" Brown's 1849 escape from a Virginia plantation by mailing himself in a crate to Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society office; the 1851 Christiana riot, in which a free Black community refused to surrender four fugitives to a slaveholder's posse; and other watershed events. This immersive history sheds valuable light not just on Still, but on the communal workings of the abolitionist movement. Illus. (Nov.)

Historian Diemer (Towson Univ.; The Politics of Black Citizenship) moves beyond reporting details of the life of William Still in this engaging production narrated by Cary Hite. Diemer also fleshes out and explores the actions of the Underground Railroad community that thrived, due in large part to Still's hard work organizing, protecting, and chairing the Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia's Anti-Slavery Society Office and his responses to backlash from opponents of abolition. Still would not have been as successful without the support of his peers, friends, and family, who helped him give enslaved people the hand they needed to help themselves, Diemer writes. Luminaries featured include abolitionists Lucretia Mott and John Brown and formerly enslaved abolitionists Henry Box Brown and Harriet Tubman. Backlash from the Dred Scott case and similar setbacks made daily life challenging for all. Hite's pitch rises and falls, and pacing varies as controversy and action follow Stills at every turn. To set apart quotations, Hite effectively uses changes in tone as if speaking for that person, with racial slurs and demeaning language edited out of quotations in the audio production. VERDICT An enlightening survey of the abolitionist movement in Philadelphia, centered around Still's life; deftly delivered by Hite.--Stephanie Bange

A deeply researched life of a Black Philadelphian who, using his considerable organizational skills, pieced together much of the escape route for enslaved people seeking their freedom. William Still (1821-1902) has been called the "father of the Underground Railway," a designation that he modestly declined to use himself. He was born into freedom, but a long-lost brother was not so lucky. History professor Diemer opens with an affecting and, it seems, entirely accidental reunion as Still's brother came to the offices of the Anti-Slavery Society to seek information about other family members. Better-known figures such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass may have done the dangerous work of ferrying runaways across rivers and marshes a step ahead of the patrollers enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, but it was Still's fastidious bookkeeping and correspondence that located family members and delivered enslaved people from plantations to safe havens in places such as upstate New York and Canada. One daring rescue that benefited from Still's keen sensibilities saw a young girl brought North through a cordon of Southern agents who were fooled by her being disguised as a young boy. Other rescues were aided by formerly enslaved people who, having made it to safety, used their skills to help others make their ways to New York and beyond. Interestingly, Diemer writes, Still at one point was an advocate of a kind of secession, observing that North and South had become two irreconcilably disunited countries. For him, too, abolitionism was only part of a complex campaign, "the beginning, not the end, of the struggle for Black freedom." Eventually becoming "one of the wealthiest Black men in Philadelphia, mostly due to his success as a coal dealer," Still also served as a rebuke by example of the flawed idea that free Black people were destined to become criminals, vagabonds, or wards of the state. A welcome addition to the literature of abolitionism, spotlighting an important American. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.