While this book focuses mainly on one or two characters, it tells the point of view of people from before and after the Civil War. The characters vary greatly from those who are white and are for slavery to those who are against slavery. There are also blacks who are for slavery and blacks who are against it. It was a very sad story to read and to know that it is based on a true event of the largest slave auction in history makes it that much more horrific. I would definitely suggest this book to anyone who might be looking for a book to cast more perspective on the happenings surrounding the Civil War. 
 This would be a great book for teachers to incorporate into their lessons. It's a very quick read (I finished it in a matter of several hours) and for English or Social Studies/History teachers to incorporate this into their teaching would be very beneficial for students because of the wide variety of view points (sorry that was me getting onto my teaching pedestal). 
 Anyway, I thought this book was VERY good and would highly suggest it to anyone!