{"product_id":"the-ballad-of-the-fugitive-cristin-okeefe-aptowicz-9781668035931","title":"The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker: A True Tale of Love, Murder, Treason, and Ordinary Folks Who Saved America","description":"\u003cb\u003eFor fans of \u003ci\u003eMaster Slave Husband Wife\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDjango Unchained \u003c\/i\u003ecomes the extraordinary forgotten story of an event known in its day as \"the first shots of the Civil War,\" from the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eDr. Mütter's Marvels\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe year, 1851. The place, a Quaker farming community turned Underground Railroad stronghold, where a Maryland enslaver had journeyed in pursuit of four men who'd fled his plantation years before. In a few hours, he'd be dead...and twenty-seven men from the village of Christiana would be rounded up and put on trial. Not for his murder, but for \u003ci\u003etreason\u003c\/i\u003e--for waging war against the United States, at a time when it was a crime against the government to obstruct an enslaver looking to reclaim his \"property.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is story of what happened in Christiana that September morning--and in the ensuing \"trial of the century,\" which saw the president himself advise the prosecution on strategy and a sitting congressman serve as lead attorney for the defense. But \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker\u003c\/i\u003e is also a much larger tale, one spanning decades, following a whole startlingly diverse community of abolitionists in their fight to convince their fellow Americans of the subversive idea that now found itself on trial: that the nation ought to live up the ideals it was founded on, and respect all men as equals. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt's a story that whisks readers from the quiet farmlands of Lancaster County--where a self-emancipated man named William Parker, whom legend had it bullets could not kill, rallied his neighbors to ride out each night to battle the slavecatchers who stalked their countryside--to Philadelphia's genteel Society Hill, where socialite Harriet Forten Purvis had the ear of the mayor (and a cellar filled with fugitives). It's stylish, propulsive, intimately human tale of bravery, ingenuity, and hope--and of ordinary people with little in common who came together to stand against injustice...and won.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1668035936\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781668035931\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 448\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.36lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.07d","brand":"Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48454420136191,"sku":"9781668035931","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c4869533-b913-4642-a513-12670b017f1a.jpg?v=1777306131","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-ballad-of-the-fugitive-cristin-okeefe-aptowicz-9781668035931","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}