{"product_id":"voices-of-the-owned-richard-seltzer-9781961268265","title":"Voices of the Owned: What They Lived Through","description":"\u003cp\u003eThey were owned-bought, sold, and controlled as property. But they remembered. They spoke. And their voices remain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVoices of the Owned draws on more than 2,000 firsthand accounts of former slaves collected by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. Most collections of these narratives focus on what is typical. This book takes a different approach.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere, the emphasis is on the individual: distinctive lives, unexpected moments, vivid scenes, and unforgettable turns of phrase. Some narratives appear nearly complete. Others are presented as short excerpts, arranged so patterns emerge naturally across many voices. Not symbols. Not stereotypes. Not \"history\" flattened into abstraction. The result is not a single story, but a chorus-contradictory, revealing, and deeply human.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGathered from thousands of WPA Slave Narratives, \"Voices of the Owned\" restores individuality and immediacy to people too often reduced to symbols or silence. Not symbols. Not stereotpes. Not \"history\" flattened into abstraction. These are people remembering, arguing, joking, grieving, wondering, and trying to make sense of what they lived through.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is not a work of interpretation or argument. It is an act of listening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat do we hear when we truly listen?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe best parts of the book do something rare -\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethey allow modern readers to encounter former slaves neither as abstractions nor as symbols, but as people still actively thinking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot frozen in history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot simplified into morality tales.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStill arguing, remembering, joking, contradicting themselves, philosophizing, grieving, boasting, wondering.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStill mentally alive on the page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat is the book's deepest achievement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Richard Seltzer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1961268264\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781961268265\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Booklocker.com\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 226\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.68lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.48d","brand":"Richard Seltzer","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48853014642943,"sku":"9781961268265","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/voices-of-the-owned-richard-seltzer-9781961268265","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}