PositiveThe Washington PostLike the story of Juneteenth itself, the history she tells is one of yarns woven, dark truths glossed over and freedom delayed ... By starting her history in the 1500s with a North African named Estebanico, who traveled with the explorer Àlvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in Texas, Gordon-Reed forces us to reconsider Black history ... The story is further complicated by our gauzy and imprecise view in the rear-view mirror. And at times, Gordon-Reed’s meanderings into her decaying memories seem to get us lost ... Gordon-Reed has a way of offering a gentle correction to the romanticizing of Western history and the erasure of marginalized communities ... America...should leave space for different interpretations based on new revelations and documentation. As a historian, I could not agree more.
