Mrs. Dred Scott : a life on slavery's frontier

I try not to give five stars lightly, but Lea Vandervelde manages the near impossible: shedding light on the life of an enslaved woman.

Harriet Scott was the wife and co-litigant of Dred Scott in on of the most infamous Supreme Court cases in American history.

Harriet Scott literally did the dirty laundry of many of the most famous people of the pre- and post civil war era. It was largely through Harriet's efforts that Dred's story and legacy was kept alive. The books adds context to the life and times of these two key, but little known, figures in the events leading to the Civil War and the eventual ending of slavery.

This is an academic history, written by a skilled academic historian.
I found it totally fascinating.