A review by allarminda
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

3.0

I’m glad I read this — and encourage others to do so, as well. It’s a fascinating inside perspective of the journey out of slavery and into the “white world,” by Booker T. Washington. Having said that, this autobiography felt very much like an academic paper without any emotion, and I completed it not sure I know much more about Mr. Washington than I did at its start. He leaves out so much of his own personal narrative, instead giving page after page to the daily running and funding of the Tuskegee Institute, which he founded, funded, championed and grew. Mr. Washington was a sought-after public speaker and I was surprised by his inclusion of several newspaper reviews of his speeches, which seemed rather self-aggrandizing and out of character.