‘Underground Railroad’ is the book that scared him, which is why it took Colson Whitehead 15 years to write it

What came first, Colson Whitehead says, was an idea to consider the Underground Railroad as a literal metaphor, to write a novel about black people who escaped slave plantations by literally riding on hidden trains.In imagining such an underground railroad, Whitehead heeded the advice he often gives his writing students: Write the book that scares you.Whitehead will read from and discuss his acclaimed and groundbreaking novel, “The Underground Railroad,” in Salt Lake City next week i