Tucson Festival of Books

Gaining Freedom


Caleb Gayle, “Black Moses,” Carrie Gibson, "The Great Resistance" and Tom Zoellner, “The Road Was Full of Thorns,” discuss their work to chronicle the generational search for freedom and identity.


Panelists
Caleb Gayle

Caleb Gayle is an award-winning journalist and the author of "We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power." A professor at Northeastern University, he is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine....

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Carrie Gibson

Carrie Gibson is the author of three acclaimed works of history: "The Great Resistance," "Empire’s Crossroads," and "El Norte." She received a Ph.D fr.om Cambridge University, focusing on the Spanish Caribbean in the era of the Haitian Revolution, and has worked as a journalist for the Guardian and BBC....

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Tom Zoellner

Tom Zoellner is the author of nine nonfiction books, including "Island on Fire: The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire," winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for the best nonfiction book of 2020, and "The Road Was Full of Thorns: Running Toward Freedom in the American Civil War....

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Books:
Black Moses
A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State
Caleb Gayle
History / Biography
Penguin Group
August 2025
ISBN 9780593543795
304 pages
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The Great Resistance
The 400-Year Fight to End Slavery in the Americas
Carrie Gibson
History / Biography
Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated
January 2026
ISBN 9780802165497
624 pages
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The Road was Full of Thorns
Running Toward Freedom in the American Civil War
Tom Zoellner
History / Biography
The New Press
September 2025
ISBN 9798893850086
329 pages
Buy now