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Introduction

• The Author's Note opens the book.

• The Author's Note is written by Styron, and it details how he based this work of fiction on an actual historical event.

• Styron states that he's rarely departed from the known facts about the insurrection.

• Styron also states that where there is little knowledge regarding Nat, he has used "the utmost freedom of imagination."
• Very little of Nat's thinking has been preserved by history.

• Styron's Author's Note was written in 1967.

• Styron believes that 1831 was "simultaneously, a long time ago and only yesterday."
• Styron believes readers will want to draw a moral from the story.

• The author's intention was to try to re-create the man (Nat Turner) and his era.

• Styron tried to create a meditation on history.
• The "To The Public" entry is taken from an actual historical document.

• "To The Public" was written by T. R. Gray, the man who...

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