Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island Contributor(s): Griswold, Mac (Author) |
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ISBN: 1250050200 ISBN-13: 9781250050205 Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL OUR PRICE: $27.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2014 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - Middle Atlantic (dc, De, Md, Nj, Ny, Pa) - History | United States - Colonial Period (1600-1775) - Social Science | Slavery |
Dewey: 974 |
Physical Information: 1.2" H x 5.9" W x 8.9" (1.45 lbs) 480 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 17th Century - Chronological Period - 18th Century - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Geographic Orientation - New York - Cultural Region - Mid-Atlantic - Cultural Region - Northeast U.S. - Topical - Black History |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Griswold, Mac: - Mac Griswold is a cultural landscape historian and the author of Washington's Gardens at Mount Vernon and The Golden Age of American Gardens. She has won a Guggenheim Fellowship and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Travel + Leisure. She lives in Sag Harbor, NY. |