This is a beautifully written, thoughtful exploration of the history of slavery. You can tell that Smith is both a poet and a journalist. Being British, everything I know about US history I've learnt from books and this one was particularly insightful. It's a great mix of travelogue and history as he tells the narrative of the places he visits and weaves in the wider historical context. It highlights how the foundation of the US is built on slavery and looks at the way the past is reckoned with, or in some cases not reckoned with, but glossed over and rewritten. I found it a really interesting way of learning about history, similar to Afropean by Johnny Pitts.