A friend of mine once described slave narratives as the equivalent of the library of a foreign culture. Reading one is embarrassingly simplistic. Consider Botkin's book a whirlwind tour. Although I believe every American should be exposed to these narratives (above and beyond the historical representations from textbooks), the stories in Lay My Burden Down are so powerful, so full of intensity, I gave the book 4 stars because it is almost brutal in its power. The humor of the first sections soon fades, and the grim truths of slavery become more and more difficult to face. Proceed, but with caution.