But even before that, the book is notably longer than the Show Me History story I looked at in 2021. Interestingly, though, I don't think the additional page count contributes to the level of detail Underground Abductor gets into relative to the Show Me History version; however, Underground Abductor does have more detail. What I mean is that, while Underground Abductor is indeed longer, it's not that much longer so the additional pages are not what contributes to the greater insights. Rather, it's Hale's efficient storytelling that allows him to go into more depth than Buckley and Esidene did later.
Space was the limitation of the Golden Legacy version; they only had 24 pages to work with, so there's lots that gets clossed over. On the flip side, the Show Me History story glossed over a lot of the violence and physical hardships that enslaved people -- including Tubman -- had to endure. Underground Abductor seems to split the difference; it does touch on those acts of violence but the illustration style is cartoony enough that the effect is somewhat muted. Honestly, I'd say it was a reasonable compromise, and it helps to make this book the best of the three Tubman biographies I have here. Coupled with the greater detail and contemporary comparisons.
It was actually that level of detail that really stood out to me. It offered a better context for her ncarcolepsy and explained more about her trips north and South. I was quite please with how Hale reguarly offered up why Tubman did what she did beyond the notion of being a general do-gooder. Her trips often had a specific purpose and she used the communications along the underground railroad to announce her coming to other enslaved people. It's a really solid biography and paints Tubman as a full person, beyond just her work on the unground railroad.
That's one of the things I liked most about this particular book: Hale provided both the details and the context that wasn't present in either of the other two books. Hale did a good job striking an excellenbt balance between edution and storytelling, without really negatively impacting either. I learned more about Tubman here than I did from either of the two other biographies I read of her. While his Harzardous Tales series is made of several volumes touching on different events in history, there are only two others that are biographies at all. That said, the topics he does cover seem interesting and I'm curious enough that I'll likely check out at least on of the others.
This "Bigger and Badder Edition" came out in 2022. According to Hale, the changes to the story itself from the original 2015 version are fairly minimal. (Perhaps most notably, changing how he references people from "slaves" to "enslaved people/person." Not that that isn't significant, but it doesn't change the flow of the narrative.) So I would say either version is worth picking up if you're able to get one or the other.
The books was published by Amulet Books. The original 2015 edition retailed for $15.99 US and the more recent edition for $19.99 US. I believe the 2022 version is still considered in print so you should be able to order it through most any bookstore, but the 2015 edition might be harder to come by and will likely be affected by after-market pricing fluctuations. Either one should be worth checking out, though!
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