In Search Of The Promised Land by James Hope Franklin and Loren Schwenninger is a unique and exciting addition to the literature on slavery and 19th century history. It shows the complexity of slave life and challenges existing historical interpretations wihtout completely overturning the studies of the last thirty years. The book's focus on the Thomas-Rapier family provides for one of the more vivid presentations of antebellum race relations. The matriarch of a remarkable African American family. Sally Thomas went from being a slave on a tobacco plantation to a virtually free slave who ran her own business and purchased one of her sons out of bondage. This book offers a vivid portrait of the extended Thomas-Rapier family and of slave life before the Civil War.