An absorbing account of the rise of a free slave, his business successes, high community standing and daily life in Natchez Mississippi before 1850, drawing on the diary, letters, and business records of the remarkable William Johnson. The authors also describe his wanton murder and the trials of the man who shot him. At the time of his death he owned more than 2,000 acres of land in Adams County.  (USS401, $18.95)