| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad. By Ann Hagedorn. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002. 333 pp. $25.00, ISBN 0-684-87065-7.)
The history of escaping slaves has always involved the difficult task of separating fact from fiction. The journalist Ann Hagedorn enters this challenging field with impressive determination and the finely honed skills of a professional reporter. She literally relocated to Ripley, Ohio, a place that spawned a number of Underground Railroad legends, and then diligently combed through the local archives. She conducted the grunt work of historical research and has produced an inspiring testament to the allure of investigating the past.	1
She did not, however, produce an interpretive gem. Hagedorn's persistent boosterism often undermines her narrative judgments. In her account, Ripley and the local abolitionist John Rankin always seem to be at the epicenter of a national movement that she never quite defines or explains. Hagedorn performs a service by detailing Rankin's mostly forgotten story, but she fails to provide the context demanded by her sometimes breathless claims. The author takes at face value, for example, the dubious tale of how the Underground Railroad supposedly got its name, attributing the origins to an escaping slave who disappeared near Ripley, leaving a bewildered slave catcher to wonder if there was "an underground road" there (pp. 12, 60).	. . .

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