- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (Oct 14 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312306237
- ISBN-13: 978-0312306236
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.8 x 2.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #688,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Seven-year-old Francis Piol Bol Buk was living happily on his family's southern Sudan farm. One day in 1986, he was sent on errands to the marketplace. There, a slave raid ripped him from his contented life and threw him into a wretched existence serving under a northern Sudanese Arab. After he escaped at age 17, Buk made his way to Cairo with a black market passport incorrectly listing his name as Bok and became a U.N. refugee allowed to settle in the U.S. in 1999. Although he found contentment in Iowa among other refugees, the following year Bok decided to work with an American antislavery organization, and testified before Congress about the atrocities in Sudan. While this is a remarkable story, its power is conveyed most effectively through Bok's simple retelling. His sincerity compels, especially when he describes the decade of mistreatment he endured. After two failed escape attempts, he's told he'll be killed in the morning, and while bound, he thinks of the morning ahead: "I would be dead and finally through with this place and this family. My mind preferred death." Yet when his master changes his mind, Bok immediately starts plotting again. For all his emotional strength, though, Bok remains humble. He thanks God and everyone who helps him escape slavery. This is a powerful, exceptionally well-told story, equally riveting and heartbreaking. Although legal strides have been made, with the help of people like Bok, the persistence of slavery in the world makes this a work that can't be ignored. Maps, photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
As a seven-year-old boy growing up in the southern Sudan, Bok was caught up in a raid on a regional market center when marauders from the north set upon the market, killing the men and kidnapping the women and children to work as farm slaves. He went from a loving and supportive extended family to the brutality of slavery in a strange land and culture, dominated by Muslims who considered him a Christian infidel. After enduring 10 years of slavery, Bok escaped to freedom in Cairo, where he became a U.N. refugee, eventually making his way to the U.S. at the age of 21. Having learned Arabic in Northern Sudan and English in America, Bok, with incredible determination, became involved in the antislavery movement, speaking around the country while seeking to earn a high-school degree. Yet it is his simple account of being a child cut off from his family and culture that shows the inhumanity of slavery. Bok's saga provides another--more contemporary--perspective on slavery for Americans reckoning with their own troubling history of such inhumanity. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Ihave told the story many times about that day in 1986, when my mother sent me to the market to sell eggs and peanuts: the day I became a slave. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Ihave told the story many times about that day in 1986, when my mother sent me to the market to sell eggs and peanuts: the day I became a slave. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Horrifying events, inspirational attitude.,
By
This review is from: Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America (Hardcover)
Francis Bok was only seven years old when he was kidnapped in his southern Sudan village and forced into slavery by a brutal Arab Muslim farmer in the north. Sadly his tale of slavery and torture is only one example of the centuries old practice of slavery and genocide during Sudan's war between the Arab Muslim north and African Christian south. His master treated Francis poorer than his livestock and he was often given garbage and rotten food to eat. He was virtually cut off from other young Dinka slaves in the area and as a result was forced to withdraw into his own mind for survival.One of the truly remarkable aspects of this book is Francis' positive attitude throughout his ordeal. He never lost hope of escaping and creating a better life for himself. Although he was forced into slavery for ten years and lost contact with his tribe customs and language he never lost his will and determinism to learn about his culture after he was free. Additionally I was impressed with his sense of helping others who are victims of Sudan's war and sending back money to friends in Egypt who were denied United Nations refugee status. In the United States where individualism is the way of life it is refreshing to read how Francis reached out to help others instead of falling into a trap of only caring for himself. ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY is a contemporary narrative that effectively shatters the myth that slavery is a problem of the past. It is sad that the world has kept silent about the appalling problems in Sudan. Time is past due for humanity to stop the needless slaughter of innocent southern Sudanese by their northern neighbors. Highly recommended.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I...,
By A .J. Casper (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America (Hardcover)
I have taken particular interest in the situation in Sudan for months now. Whenever I think of it I get enraged. The whole animal in me comes out. I read the book and was incensed. Francis Bok is a man worth twelve men, if not more. He is brave and handsome. I couldn't help but notice his long, elegant neck. I wish all the best for him.I am wondering why the world is doing nothing about this. The slavery in Sudan is a centuries-old practice and genocide. It is shameful that the Western media would rather televise naked Dinka men wrestling and drinking milk--and yet the world is not being told how these people have been torn..literally - by slavery, famine, and war. I feel for Sudan. The Arabs in the North are just shameful. This should end! The majestic Dinka, Shilluk, Nuer, and other tribes in Southern Sudan are an African treasure..the famed Ethiopians of the ancients. Yes, the very ones living closest to the sun, the favorites of the gods. They were once famous (all over the world) for "feasting with the gods" and being the holiest of people. I read about Sudanese slavery today and feel angry that even African countries have turned themselves away from this devastating situation. Time is running out!
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Sudan,
By Asim Musa (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America (Hardcover)
I found that this book was very well written, and was written with a great deal of detail. Although I think the book was well written i also think it is very bias towards the northern Sudanese peoples. I, being from North Sudan, know that the northeners of Sudan have made a great deal of mistakes in the past, but i feel as if the book portrayed my peoples as savages. I'm not saying that we are all angels and indeed some are savages but North Sudanese have a beautiful culture which was not portrayed in the book. There are many northeners trying to bring the civil war in Sudan to an end, and i have a great number of aunts and auncles who are living in Canada and The U.S. as refugees from Sudan because of there beliefs of what is going on in Sudan and their views towards the Sudanese government. I also have some who are still in Sudan ad fighting for the south.This book is still a great book and should be read by all to show that slavery does still exsist in Sudan and many other parts of the world and some one should do something about it. I wish Francis the best of luck in his future and would like to invite him over to meet my family and have some tea to see Northern Sudanese culture at its finest. Asim Musa
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