Terrible swift sword : the legacy of John Brown / edited by Peggy A. Russo and Paul Finkelman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Russo, Peggy A.

Finkelman, Paul, 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brown, John, 1800-1859.

Brown, John.

Brown, John, 1800-1859--Influence.

Abolitionists--United States--Biography.

Abolitionists.

Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century.

Antislavery movements.

Physical Description:

xxx, 228, [8] p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Athens : Ohio University Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

More than two centuries after his birth and almost a century and a half after his death, the legendary life and legacy of John Brown go marching on. Variously deemed martyr, madman, monster, terrorist, and saint, he remains one of the most controversial figures in America's history. Brown's actions in Kansas and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, provided major catalysts for the American Civil War, actions that continue today to evoke commendation or provoke condemnation. Through the prisms of history, literature, psychology, criminal justice, oral history, African American studies, political science, film studies, and anthropology, Terrible Swift Sword offers insights not only into John Brown's controversial character and motives, but also into the nature of a troubled society before, during, and after the Civil War. The discussions include reasons why Brown's contemporaries supported him, attempts to define Brown using different criteria, analyses of Brown's behavior, his depiction in literature, and examinations of the iconography surrounding him.The interdisciplinary focus marshalled by editor Peggy A. Russo makes Terrible Swift Sword unique, and this, together with the popular mythology surrounding the legend of John Brown, will appeal to a broad audience of readers interested in this turbulent moment in American history.Paul Finkelman is Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa College of Law. He is the author of many articles and books, including His Soul Goes Marching On: Responses to John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid and the Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference Peggy Russo is an assistant professor of English at the Mont Alto Campus of Pennsylvania State University. She has published in Shakespeare Bulletin, The Southern Literary Journal, Journal of American Culture, Shakespeare and the Classroom, and Civil War Book Review.

Contents:

Why Theodore Parker backed John Brown : the political and social roots of support for abolitionist violence / Dean Grodzins

They heard his call / the local Black community's involvement in the raid on Harpers Ferry / Hannah Geffert

How Rev. Thomas W. Henry of the AME Church met John Brown / Jean Libby

John Brown as founder : America's violent confrontation with its first principles / Scott John Hammond

John Brown and the legacy of martyrdom / Eyal Naveh

John Brown as "lawless fanatic" : a usable past for the postwar South / Charles J. Holden

A behavioral analysis of John Brown : martyr or terrorist? / James N. Gilbert

A psychological examination of John Brown / Kenneth R. Carroll

Hero, martyr, madman : representations of John Brown in the poetry of the John Brown year, 1859-60 / William Keeney

Beyond history : John Brown, raising holy hell, and posthistorical fiction / Bruce Olds

John Brown's fort : a contested national symbol / Paul A. Shackel

John Brown goes to Hollywood : Santa Fe Trail and Seven angry men / Peggy A. Russo.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780821441503

0821441507

OCLC:

84683962