12 Years a Slave (Movie Tie-In)

The official movie tie-in edition to the winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture,starring Chiwetel EjioforMichael Fassbenderand Lupita NyongΓÇÖoand directed by Steve McQueen New York Times bestseller ΓÇ£I could not believe that I had never heard of this book. It felt as important as Anne FrankΓÇÖs Diaryonly published nearly a hundred years before. . . . The book blew [my] mind: the epic rangethe detailsthe adventurethe horrorand the humanity. . . . I hope my film can play a part in drawing attention to this important book of courage. SolomonΓÇÖs bravery and life deserve nothing less.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇöSteve McQueendirector of 12 Years a Slavefrom the Foreword Perhaps the best written of all the slave narrativesTwelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northupborn a free man in New Yorkwas lured to WashingtonD.C.in 1841 with the promise of fast moneythen drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. After his rescueNorthup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its unusual insight and eloquence as one of the very few portraits of American slavery produced by someone as educated as Solomon Northupor by someone with the dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave.