James Delle’s recent contribution to the University Press of Florida’s series on the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective does an excellent job of drawing together many of the key sources on the archaeology of African American life in the North. It is a useful contribution to the burgeoning literature on this subject and an important reference for anyone wanting to know more about what archaeology has revealed about this critical topic.The volume begins with a powerful and heartfelt foreword by series editor Michael Nassaney that links the historical themes and archaeological sites explored by Delle to modern American society and the persistent problem of racism. Delle’s self-defined goal for the book is “to review the material evidence of how African-American people in the northeastern United States struggled against the racist ideology that has largely defined American culture from its inception” (1). Geographically, the area covered includes New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The volume serves as a synthesis of the major contributions that African American archaeology has made to “our understanding of race, slavery, and freedom in the United States” (1).The book is divided into five major sections. In each of them, Delle tacks back and forth between broad overviews and his own case studies. This is an effective organization tool and the volume flows nicely. The book’s first section, “The Problem of Northern Slavery,” provides a thorough, theoretically grounded overview of northern slavery. Well-known sites reflecting the history of American historical archaeology from its formative period in the mid-twentieth century through to famous archaeological excavations at the African Burial Ground in the 1990s are discussed and placed in their historical and theoretical contexts. Some of the sites examined include Parting Ways and Lucy Foster’s Garden in Massachusetts and Skunk Hollow in New Jersey.Chapter 2 provides a nuanced view of the history of slavery in the North. This chapter is organized geographically, with each area or state discussed in chronological order. For those unfamiliar with the history of northern slavery, this will be an invaluable chapter, providing just the right amount of detail in its discussion of slavery in the North. The treatment of New Jersey is, however, rather abbreviated and could be expanded. The key takeaways from this chapter are that for over 250 years slavery existed in the Northeast and that archaeology is a powerful tool for revealing the lives of African Americans past and present.The second section, “Bondage,” begins with a chapter focused on the archaeology of bondage in the northern states. Here, key sites such as the African Burial Ground in New York, Newport, Rhode Island’s African American community, Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s African Burial Ground, and the middling farms and the great manors of New York State are all examined. Other sites discussed include New Salem Plantation in Connecticut and the Ten Hills Farm in Massachusetts. Delle does a good job of highlighting the importance and pervasiveness of enslaved labor in the Northeast, as well as the persistence of traditional cultural and religious practices among enslaved laborers. He also emphasizes the harsh conditions and near-constant surveillance that they would have experienced.The next chapter focuses on Rose Hill, a nineteenth-century plantation established in upstate New York by southern émigrés. Here Delle does a fine job of highlighting the often-overlooked story of slavery in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The presence of a swept yard at the Rose Hill plantation, a feature noted at many southern plantations and relating not simply to cleanliness but also to African American spiritual beliefs is noteworthy.The third section, “Struggle,” looks at the struggle for freedom in the North. Here again, in clear, engaging prose, Delle examines some of the key sites associated with early Free African American communities and the Underground Railroad. Another theme explored in this chapter is what Delle terms “sanctuary settlements” in the Northeast (111–12). These include the Nantucket Meeting House, Chris Barton’s excavations at Timbuctoo near Mount Holly, New Jersey, and at Guineatown in New York. From these case studies we see that even after slavery was abolished, racism and poverty remained.Chapter 6 focuses on Delle’s work at the Parker House in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A tenancy rented by William Parker, a free African American, from Quaker Levi Pownall, the house was the site of the famous Christiana Riot (1851), which occurred when Edward Gorsuch, a slaveholder from Maryland, and associates attempted to apprehend several enslaved individuals who had fled north to freedom. The description of the riot, which ended in Gorsuch’s death, makes for compelling reading. Delle led a community archaeology project at the site, which provided intriguing new information about life there during the nineteenth century.The book’s fourth section, “Liberty,” focuses on the problem of northern freedom, a freedom that often was true more in name than in fact. Sites examined include the Dennis Farm in Pennsylvania, Sandy Ground on Staten Island, Freetown on Eastern Long Island, burial grounds like the Eighth Street Cemetery in Philadelphia, the First African Meeting House in Boston, and Seneca Village and Weeksville in New York. These sites are used to illustrate how African American communities developed around shared institutions, especially churches in the face of persistent racism.The eighth chapter deals with Delle’s work at the home of Lydia Hamilton Smith in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Smith was an African American woman who served as housekeeper and head of household for the famed firebrand politician Thaddeus Stevens. Delle’s excavations not only provided material evidence for life in Smith-Stevens household, but most intriguingly unearthed a cistern that may have served as a hiding place for individuals escaping to freedom.The fifth and final section of the volume, “Commemoration,” makes a plea for remembering these sites and their legacies as we work to dismantle entrenched racism in the United States. It also highlights several significant sites including the President’s House associated with George Washington and his enslaved people in Philadelphia, the Harriet Tubman House in upstate New York, and W.E.B. DuBois’ boyhood home site in western Massachusetts.Overall, the volume provides a very useful introduction and overview of the archaeology of African American life in the Northeast. Delle’s technique of tacking back and forth between major themes and detailed expositions of sites where he has directed fieldwork works well. Anyone conducting research on the archaeology of slavery and freedom in the North will find this to be a must-have book.