Shay's Rebellion: A Much Better Documentation.
Authors each use their own unique narration and documentation when writing a book about a piece of history, such as Celia a Slave or Shays" Rebellion. Melton McLaurin, the author of Celia a Slave, uses much more guesswork and "he-said she-said" documentation rather than actual sound facts. However, David Szatmary, author of Shays" Rebellion, uses much more first hand, factual information. Melton's Celia a Slave is not at times very factual and leaves room for questioning. Yet Szatmary writes a piece of literature that uses actual facts and times to convince the reader that his book is completely legitimate.
Celia a Slave probably very closely portrays what actually may have happened to Celia. He used the information he did gather and put it all together and wrote a very close account of her story. However, he uses many assumptions and questionable documentation in this book. In chapter two he states "Precisely what occurred after Newsom entered the cabin is unclear It is reasonable to assume- There is no need to go any further. Melton states himself that exactly what occurred is unclear, yet it is reasonable to assume. That is the key word, assume. He is not always writing sound accounts but yet makes assumptions. It isn't clear what happened when he entered her cabin, and yes, one can assume based on their own feelings if put in that situation, how Celia felt, but there is no room for conjectures and guesses when writing a nonfiction piece about a part of history. He then goes on to say "What Celia, a slave, felt at that moment is not recorded, but she would have understood that the boy was inhaling his grandfather's remains even as he cleaned the ashes from the fireplace- Once again, what Celia felt is not really recorded, Melton just makes just makes a guess at her feelings. This proves that Celia a Slave was written from a biased standpoint.
