We throw a lot of dramatic vocabulary around these days. “Transgressiveness” has become more culture-war triteness than shock. An unexpected coincidence is “ironic.” Anyone who buttons up a uniform risks being called a hero, and death, if you go by the headlines, is about 100% tragic. One unfortunate effect of such triviality is how easy it becomes to miss stories of real human achievement and undeniable heroism. In the strikingly titled “Master Slave Husband Wife,” writer and historian Ilyon Woo recounts the almost-forgotten story of the “self-emancipation” of Georgia slaves William and Ellen Craft, in a narrative of such courage and resourcefulness it seems too dashing to be true.

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