Slave Stealers: The Accounts of Slave Rescues Then and Now

Ballard, founder of human trafficking rescue organization Operation Underground Railroad, combines accounts of some of his harrowing experiences liberating children with a summary of the life of the 19th-century writer Harriet Jacobs, one of his personal heroes, who escaped enslavement. Ballard argues that lessons about how to stop present-day human trafficking can be gleaned from history. His own efforts involve sting operations related in riveting detail (in which Ballard and his compatriots impersonate potential buyers), one at a phony Haitian “orphanage” and another at a beach resort. Along the way, Ballard meets Guesno Mardy, a remarkable Haitian man who, after his own son was kidnapped, became a hero and advocate for other young victims. Ballard frankly discusses the emotional toll of doing this type of work and shares inspirational stories about the resilience of the young rescued victims. Ballard also celebrates other American heroes of the anti-slavery crusade, including Nat Turner, Underground Railroad operator Levi Coffin, Harriet Tubman, and Abraham Lincoln. Nearly half the text is devoted to Jacobs’s biography, but those interested in her story would be much better off reading it in her own words in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Nevertheless, Ballard brings home the urgency of combating trafficking, in inspiring fashion. [em](Sept.) [/em]