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Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America. By Fergus M. Bordewich. (New York: Amistad, 2005. Pp. xvii, 540. Illustrations, maps. Cloth, $27.95.)
The Underground Railroad is "hot" these days, a facet of American racial history that suddenly widely disparate groups have embraced. Staunchly conservative right-to-life advocates invoke abolitionists aiding fugitive slaves to justify civil disobedience aimed at abortion providers, while liberals see in the Underground Railroad an example of interracial collaboration that speaks to the needs of a nation that race still divides. Unquestionably the most visible manifestation of this new interest has been the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, which opened a year ago with remarks from Laura Bush and Oprah Winfrey, and which has become...