Gettysburg College Prof. Kerry Walters’ new book, The Underground Railroad: A Reference Guide, offers a fresh look at hundreds of men and women — white and black, from all walks of life — who helped enslaved people escape to freedom in the decades leading up to the Civil War.

Drawing on original documents — as well as first-person accounts like those of the Eliza Harris and Josiah Henson, the real-life "Eliza" and "Uncle Tom" portrayed Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin — the book chronicles the first large-scale act of interracial collaboration in the United States, mapping the network of routes and safe stations and the Canadian settlements populated by fugitives. The publisher is ABC-CLIO/Praeger.

“It reflects my interest in looking at the conflict from the perspective of peace and justice studies,” said Walters, the William Bittinger Professor of Philosophy and the author or editor of more than 20 books, including Benjamin Franklin and His Gods, Revolutionary Deists: Early America's Rational Infidels and a critical edition of Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason.

Learn about Gettysburg College’s plans for next year’s 150th anniversary of the battle and Gettysburg Address at 150th at www.gettysburg.edu/civilwar2013.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college, which enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students, is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Jim Hale, associate director of editorial services