Only by Experience: An Anthology of Slave Narratives collects, in whole or in part, sixteen of the most significant and influential slave narratives in English. Based on material from the acclaimed Broadview Anthology of American Literature , the anthology includes works from the British Empire as well as the United States and puts classic examples of the slave narrative genre in conversation with works that raise questions about how the genre is defined. The anthology also features thorough headnotes and annotations for each work, along with detailed contextual materials for many of the works included.