Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery
Leon F. Litwack
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award Based on hitherto unexamined sources: interviews with ex-slaves, diaries and accounts by former slaveholders, this "rich and admirably written book" (Eugene Genovese, The New York Times Book Review) aims to show how, during the Civil War and after Emancipation, blacks and whites interacted in ways that dramatized not only their mutual dependency, but the ambiguities and tensions that had always been latent in "the peculiar institution." Contents 1. "The Faithful Slave" 2. Black Liberators 3. Kingdom Comin' 4. Slaves No More 5. How Free is Free? 6. The Feel of Freedom: Moving About 7. Back to Work: The Old Compulsions 8. Back to Work: The New Dependency 9. The Gospel and the Primer 10. Becoming a People
Award History
3 wins · 3 total
| Award | Year | Result | Category / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Book Award for History PaperbackMajor | 1981 | Winner | Secondary source |
| Pulitzer Prize in HistoryMajor | 1980 | Winner | Secondary source |
| Francis Parkman Prize | 1980 | Winner | Secondary source |
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies
This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.
01 Central figures
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
02 Central places
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
03 Suggested argument
No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.
04 Reading orientation
30 / 100 academicSerious trade
An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.
Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 22%.