Unavailable for several years, Virginia Hamilton's award-winning companion to The People Could Fly traces the history of slavery in America in the voices and stories of those who lived it. Leo and Diane Dillon's brilliant black-and-white illustrations echo the stories' subtlety and power, making this book as stunning to look at as it is to read. -There is probably no better way to convey the meaning of the institution of slavery as it existed in the United States to young readers than by using, as a text to share and discuss, Many Thousand Gone .- -- The New York Times Book Review