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Search - The Known World
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Book Description:
Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor -- William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation -- as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow, Caldonia, succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart at their plantation: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love beneath the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend estate, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave "speculators" sell free black people into slavery, and rumors of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years. An ambitious, luminously written novel that ranges seamlessly between the past and future and back again to the present, The Known World weaves together the lives of freed and enslaved blacks, whites, and Indians -- and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery.
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Other Versions of this Book: Hardcover, Audio Cassette (Today Show Book Club)
Top Member Reviews
Marilyn E. from COTO DE CAZA, CA wrote on 5/31/2007...
6 member(s) found this review helpful.
I got lost in the book. I became fully involved with the characters and the wonder of the human spirit in all of us. One of the best books I have ever read.
Emily R. wrote on 7/1/2007...
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Jones brings you deep into the world of the confused South through his beautiful, dramatic, illustrations of life as it was for slaves - both in bondage and freed - and their owners - both white and black. This is a fabulous book that was hard to put down.
Jenifer W. (
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Pulitzer Prize winner for 2004, this book is a rich portrayal of slavery and free blacks during the mid-1800s in the US. No Civil War militaria, this book is a profound and deep look of the lives of slaves and their masters--some of whom are black. Left me thinking of the characters long after finishing the book.
Peggy L. (
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
More historical than fictional; very intriguing angle on slavery. A bit pedantic, but really gave me a different perspective.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
It's easy to understand why the Pulitzer Prize was given to this wonderful novel. It manages to be epic while neatly confined to small town Virginia.
April B. (
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
After you refer to the character guide in the back this book is much easier to follow. Pulitzer winner.
2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Good historical novel about the little-known culture of slave-owning blacks in the South. Storyline tends to shift around a lot but it's not so hard to follow if you are paying attention! Pulitzer Prize winning book.
Janis K. (
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
"The Known World" has an interesting premise in that the slave owners are the same race as the slaves. A lot of the incidents in this book are very eye-opening. I never really thought about what happens to slaves when their master dies. It is so amazing to me that people feel that they have a right to own their fellow human beings, treating as possessions instead of humans. Another part of the book that I found disturbing was the idea that slaves should not be educated. This dehumanization of the slaves had a lot of similarities with Nazi Germany...For anyone who enjoys fiction in a historical setting, "The Known World" by Edward Jones, is required reading.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, the book powerful in its examination of the issue of slavery and in its characters.
Anne M. from BELDING, MI wrote on 4/1/2007...
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
I couldn't put it down!
Rate These Member Reviews
Nely M. from WILTON, CT wrote on 1/13/2008...A wonderful book about the brutal history of slavery in our country,
Melody B. (Enlightening, depressing, hopeful, informative. Any book that can pull off that combination is a great book. As far as historical fiction goes, this is on the top of the list.
The unusual story of master/slave relations in the antebellum American south.
Barbara P. from OLYMPIA, WA wrote on 9/4/2006...Written by a Pulitzer prize winning author who takes you deep into the life of a black farmer, a former slave, and his wife who struggles to make her life work when he suddenly dies. Edward Jones stabs us in the heart with his bold commentary on slavery.
Lori M. from OAKLAND, CA wrote on 7/29/2006...Pulitzer-prize winning book about slavery. Great characters, fascinating story.
Fascinating look at slavery from multiple viewpoints of slaves and others.
it really makes you think and is certainly deserving of the awards it has won. If you find it a bit off-putting at first due to the various different stories stick with it and you will find it worth it.
Elaine W. from BELTON, MO wrote on 4/2/2006...The story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Townsend becomes a slaveholder and runs his affairs with unusual discipline. When death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order and chaos ensues.- I was unaware that during the pre-Civil War era there was a small population of blacks, many of whom were freed slaves, that became slave-owners themselves. The book begins slow, with seemingly unrelated storylines that appear to run independent of one another. Stick with the story and be amazed as all these story "threads" begin to weave together. A wonderful read!
Elaine Wilson
A stunner - a little hard to get going, perhaps, but really worthwhile when you do.
Tracy F. from ORLANDO, FL wrote on 3/4/2006...I haven't read this yet but I have another copy that is on my "to read" list. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2004 and a bazillion other awards. Deals with slavery from the perspesctive of the black slave owner. Very interesting and well written book.