Welcome back to our Black History Month Coffee & Classics series! In Part 1, we explored how Alexandre Dumas's Georges and Octavia Butler's Kindred grapple with power, identity, and survival across different centuries. Today, we're switching gears to compare Georges with Colson Whitehead's National Book Award-winning masterpiece, The Underground Railroad.

Both novels ask the same fundamental question: What does it take to be free? But they answer it in wildly different ways. One is a swashbuckling tale of social rebellion set against colonial hierarchies. The other is a surrealist, heart-stopping journey through America's original sin. Let's break down why both deserve a spot on your reading list, and which one might speak to you right now.

Why You Should Read Georges: The Classic Revolutionary

If you've never heard of Alexandre Dumas's Georges, you're not alone. While The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers get all the glory, Georges might be Dumas's most personal and politically charged work. Published in 1843, it tells the story of Georges Munier, a wealthy, educated man of mixed race who returns to his birthplace of Mauritius with one goal: to dismantle the racist social order that once humiliated him.

What Makes Georges Essential Reading

It's about social power, who has it, who wants it, and how it's weaponized. Georges isn't fighting for physical survival in the same way other protagonists on this list are. He's fighting for recognition. For dignity. For the right to exist in spaces that were designed to exclude him. And he's doing it with strategy, charm, and a whole lot of calculated rebellion.

Dumas gives us a protagonist who's complex and flawed. Georges is brilliant, yes. But he's also proud, sometimes reckless, and deeply wounded by the racism he's experienced. His rebellion isn't just about changing laws: it's about changing minds. It's about proving that he's just as capable, just as deserving, just as human as the white colonists who look down on him.

The book explores class, race, and belonging in ways that still resonate today. Georges navigates a world where his wealth and education should grant him access: but his Blackness is a wall he can't buy his way through. Sound familiar? Dumas wrote this nearly 200 years ago, but the tension between merit and prejudice, between who you are and how you're perceived, is timeless.

It's a classic adventure story with real stakes. There's dueling. There's romance. There's political intrigue and a literal slave uprising. Dumas knows how to keep you turning pages. But beneath the swashbuckling exterior is a sharp critique of colonialism and a deeply personal exploration of what it means to fight for your place in a world that refuses to see you.

If you love character-driven stories where power is negotiated in drawing rooms and ballrooms as much as on battlefields, Georges is your book. It's quieter than The Underground Railroad in some ways, but no less urgent.

Why You Should Read The Underground Railroad: The Mythic Machine

Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad took the literary world by storm when it was published in 2016, and for good reason. It's a novel that feels both deeply rooted in history and completely untethered from it. Whitehead takes the metaphor of the Underground Railroad: the network of safe houses and secret routes that helped enslaved people escape to freedom: and makes it literal. There are actual trains. Actual stations. Actual conductors operating beneath the American soil.

What Makes The Underground Railroad Unforgettable

It's a reimagining of history that makes the truth hit harder. By turning the Underground Railroad into a physical, tangible thing, Whitehead creates a world that's surreal but emotionally devastating. Each state Cora passes through represents a different facet of America's relationship with Blackness: from medical experimentation to forced sterilization to false promises of freedom. It's alternate history that feels more honest than a textbook ever could.

Cora is a heroine you won't forget. While Georges is wealthy and educated, Cora starts with nothing. She's born into bondage on a Georgia plantation, and every ounce of her freedom is earned through grit, intelligence, and sheer will. She's not a perfect protagonist: she's stubborn, suspicious, and sometimes cold. But that's what makes her real. Whitehead never lets her be a symbol. She's always, always a person.

It's a chase story with the weight of a nation behind it. The tension in The Underground Railroad is relentless. Cora is being hunted: by a slave catcher named Ridgeway who's as terrifying as any villain in modern fiction. Every chapter feels like she's one step away from capture, one choice away from death. But it's not just Ridgeway chasing her. It's America itself. The entire machinery of a country built on stolen labor is designed to drag her back.

The world-building is stunning. Whitehead creates entire towns, entire systems, entire philosophies of how America could have been: or how it actually was, just dressed up differently. There's a state that promises freedom but practices eugenics. There's a state that pretends to be a utopia but hides its violence underground. It's a tour through the many faces of American racism, and it's both beautiful and brutal.

If you want a book that reads like a thriller but feels like a reckoning, The Underground Railroad delivers. It's bigger, louder, and more ambitious than Georges: but both are essential in their own ways.

Two Paths to Freedom, Two Reasons to Read

So which one should you pick up first? Honestly, you should read both. But here's how to decide where to start:

Choose Georges if:

• You're drawn to stories about navigating systems from the inside
• You want to see how class and race intersect in complex ways
• You love classic adventure tales with political teeth
• You're interested in lesser-known works by legendary authors

Choose The Underground Railroad if:

• You want a propulsive, high-stakes narrative that doesn't let up
• You're ready for a book that's both surreal and devastatingly real
• You appreciate experimental storytelling that bends genre
• You want a modern classic that's already changing how we talk about history

Both novels understand that freedom isn't just about escaping physical chains. It's about escaping the narratives that others write about you. It's about claiming the right to define yourself. Georges does it through education, wealth, and social maneuvering. Cora does it through survival, endurance, and refusal to give up.

Pair Your Reading with the Perfect Cup

At Far From Beale Street Bookshop, we believe every great book deserves a great cup of coffee. For Georges, pair it with the FB Roasters Cowboy Blend. For The Underground Railroad, pair it with the FB Roasters Uganda Single Origin. Keep the focus on Black History Month and celebrate the heritage of these African-sourced beans alongside these powerful narratives.

Grab your copy of either (or both!) at Far From Beale Street, and stock up on beans from FB Roasters. Trust us: you'll want the caffeine for these page-turners.

What's Next?

In Part 3 of our Coffee & Classics series, we're bringing it all together: Georges, Kindred, and The Underground Railroad. We'll talk about what each book does best, how they speak to each other across time and genre, and which one might be the perfect fit for your reading mood right now.

Until then, pour yourself a cup, crack open a spine, and settle in. February is for remembering: and these books make sure we never forget.

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Looking for more Black History Month reads? Visit Far From Beale Street Bookshop or check out our current offers for coffee and book bundles.

Join the discussion on Instagram and see how we’re pairing these reads with FB Roasters: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUV3bTuDqaN/