{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143039245?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0143039245","authors":["Elizabeth Keckley"],"book_id":"9780143039242","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/behind-the-scenes-9780143039242","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780143039242.jpg?v=2c077cbb10d18b64","description":"Originally published in 1868—when it was attacked as an “indecent book” authored by a “traitorous eavesdropper”— Behind the Scenes is the story of Elizabeth Keckley, who began her life as a slave and became a privileged witness to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Keckley bought her freedom at the age of thirty-seven and set up a successful dressmaking business in Washington, D.C. She became modiste to Mary Todd Lincoln and in time her friend and confidante, a relationship that continued after Lincoln’s assassination. In documenting that friendship—often using the First Lady’s own letters— Behind the Scenes fuses the slave narrative with the political memoir. It remains extraordinary for its poignancy, candor, and historical perspective. - First time in Penguin Classics","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780143039242","publication_date":"20050726","publisher":"Penguin Publishing Group","slug":"behind-the-scenes","subtitle":"Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House","title":"Behind the Scenes"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Civil War Era","score":0.7746,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"19th-Century America","score":0.764,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN025200","confidence_band":"medium","label":"19th Century America for Teens","score":0.7494,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Civil War Era","score":0.7746,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"19th-Century America","score":0.764,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN025200","confidence_band":"medium","label":"19th Century America for Teens","score":0.7494,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BIO006000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Lives in History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BIO022000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Women's Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Civil War Era","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Civil War Era","score":0.7746,"slug":"civil-war-era"},{"label":"19th-Century America","score":0.764,"slug":"19th-century-america"},{"label":"19th Century America for Teens","score":0.7494,"slug":"19th-century-america-for-teens"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in slave narratives and political memoirs","Good for readers interested in firsthand perspectives on Lincoln-era history"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Jennifer Fleischner"],"book_id":"9780767902595","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780767902595.jpg?v=b57b97ad7c2b8e6d","score":0.778,"title":"Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780767902595"},{"authors":["Elizabeth Dowling Taylor","Annette Gordon-Reed"],"book_id":"9780230341982","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780230341982.jpg?v=3865e07d4457d261","score":0.7161,"title":"A Slave in the White House","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780230341982"},{"authors":["Gerri Willis"],"book_id":"9780063333659","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063333659.jpg?v=17759c380318ebf8","score":0.7024,"title":"Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063333659"},{"authors":["Harriet Jacobs","Mint Editions","Harriet Ann Jacobs"],"book_id":"9781513221144","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781513221144.jpg?v=82bf9f59ba5f9e57","score":0.7011,"title":"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781513221144"},{"authors":["Stephen V. Ash"],"book_id":"9780060582487","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060582487.jpg?v=60057d8e45204917","score":0.6947,"title":"A Year in the South: 1865","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060582487"},{"authors":["Ilyon Woo"],"book_id":"9781501191060","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781501191060.jpg?v=f55ef56eb415d8dd","score":0.6864,"title":"Master Slave Husband Wife","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781501191060"},{"authors":["H. W. Brands"],"book_id":"9780385544009","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780385544009.jpg?v=574fe89bace0e987","score":0.6852,"title":"The Zealot and the Emancipator","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780385544009"},{"authors":["Kristina R. Gaddy"],"book_id":"9780593855522","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593855522.jpg?v=dc459fd4162f1a0d","score":0.6807,"title":"A Most Perilous World","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593855522"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:american history"],"label":"History","score":0.4536,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:biography"],"label":"Biography","score":0.0744,"slug":"biography"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:biographies"],"label":"Biographies","score":0.0616,"slug":"biographies"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:civil war"],"label":"Civil","score":0.0282,"slug":"civil"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Slavery and freedom, Political memoir, Friendship and confidences.","Themes: History, Biography, Biographies.","Reading lane: Civil War Era and 19th Century America."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.91,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in slave narratives and political memoirs","Readers interested in firsthand perspectives on Lincoln-era history"],"themes":["Slavery and freedom","Political memoir","Friendship and confidences"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":4212,"goodreads_reviews_count":540,"quality_score":0.9364}}