 John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights by David S. ReynoldsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Epic survey of an American institution. The author is a bit enamored with his subject, but overall does a great job setting up the history and delivering strong interpretations. The introduction and afterword which express strong political opinion are a bit heavy handed but overall I am very glad I read this. Excellent companion to Burn’s Civil War. Good details. Excellent pacing and structure within the work. Does not get overly mired in background or “setting the stage”. Does fawn a bit at the transcendentalists which it appears everyone who studies this period does–weird anti-Catholic tone a few times for no real reason. Overall, I strongly recommend this to anyone interested in history or the civil war. it is a good book. View all my reviews |
David Given Schwarm 
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