Incredibly powerful and personal. The author visits sites around US (and one in Africa) to explore those places' relationships with slavery. Most of the history I didn't know, including the chapter about the cemetery a mile from my parents' house, one I drove by every day on my last visit. The Angola prison section was especially shocking to me; I didn't know there was a gift shop attached to the prison mocking its cruelty. I also appreciated how the author was open about his own gaps here - parts he didn't know or details he focused on that later he realized weren't important. Smith is a poet, so occasionally the writing got a little purple, but not enough to detract. An important book.