One of the most disturbing autobiographies ever published in the United States, this now classic tale of African-American life in the late 18th and early 19th centuries offers an intimate view of the harsh brutality of slavery... written by a man who escaped its horrors twice and published anonymously while he was living as a fugitive. Enslaved in Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia, and witness to some of the most cruel treatment of the entire slavery era, CHARLES BALL (b. 1780) was sold away from his mother and siblings when he was four years old, and never saw any of them again, and then watched his father wither from grief. In this 1836 account, he describes the poor diet and living conditions of his fellow slaves, details the inhuman punishments they were subjected to, and decries the thoughtless malice with which their families were ripped apart: he lost his own family when he was forcibly separated from his wife and children. An invaluable example of firsthand history, this is must-reading for anyone who wishes to understand slavery in the United States.