Hazel Rochman (Booklist, May 15, 1998 (Vol. 94, No. 18))
The monumental 1991 discovery of the mid-eighteenth-century African Burial Ground under the streets of Manhattan has uncovered the skeletal remains and artifacts of more than 400 graves as well as the history of the enslaved people whose voices had been lost. McGowan is head conservator of the team studying the burial ground; Hansen is a Coretta Scott King Award winner. They weave together the main strands of the inquiry. First, there is the painstaking analysis of the archaeologists, who can tell us much about the daily lives of the people buried there and also how the burials reflect African memories and culture. Then there is the physical anthropologists' analysis of how the buried bones reveal the causes of death and the harsh ways of life of the enslaved people. Finally, there is the work of the historians, who are piecing together how black New Yorkers lived and labored. The facts are riveting, and the book design is handsome, with lots of small black-and-white photographs, but the book is not easy reading. The narrative is disjointed, heavy, and repetitive, maybe because there are so many jumps from one kind of inquiry to the next and back again. Still, the technology will excite students as much as the history that breaks the silence. Category: Older Readers. 1998, Holt, $16.95. Gr. 8-12.