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The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church
Top of the pile
79
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
64/100Critics
93/100Scholars
Author:
Rachel L. Swarns
Publisher:
Random House
Date:
June 13, 2023
Rachel L. Swarns follows one family through nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church in the United States.
What The Reviewers Say
Deeply researched and revelatory.
Powerful and moving.
She has amplified her early reporting into a vivid and compelling narrative that lays bare the complexity of these tragic events and traces, where possible, the fate of the slaves themselves.
Swarns sticks closely to chronology and strives for an objective account, even as she depends on conjecture to join the recorded history of the two hundred and seventy-two to the broader experience of slavery in the Americas. The result is a vivid, pointillistically detailed narrative that foregrounds the people who were enslaved.
