Midnight rising : John Brown and the raid that sparked the Civil War Tony Horwitz

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Horwitz, Tony, 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Harpers Ferry (W. Va.)--History--John Brown's Raid, 1859.

Harpers Ferry (W. Va.).

Brown, John, 1800-1859.

Brown, John.

Abolitionists--United States--Biography.

Abolitionists.

Physical Description:

xii, 365 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Henry Holt, 2011.

Summary:

In this book the author tells the tale of the daring insurrection that put America on the path to bloody war. Plotted in secret, launched in the dark, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was a pivotal moment in U.S. history. But few Americans know the true story of the men and women who launched a desperate strike at the slaveholding South. Now, this work portrays Brown's uprising revealing a country on the brink of explosive conflict. Brown, the descendant of New England Puritans, saw slavery as a sin against America's founding principles. Unlike most abolitionists, he was willing to take up arms, and in 1859 he prepared for battle at a hideout in Maryland, joined by his teenage daughter, three of his sons, and a guerrilla band that included former slaves and a spy. On October 17, the raiders seized Harpers Ferry, stunning the nation and prompting a counterattack led by Robert E. Lee. After Brown's capture, his defiant eloquence galvanized the North and appalled the South, which considered Brown a terrorist. The raid also helped elect Abraham Lincoln, who later began to fulfill Brown's dream with the Emancipation Proclamation, a measure he called "a John Brown raid, on a gigantic scale." This book travels antebellum America to deliver both a historical drama and a telling portrait of a nation divided, a time that still resonates in ours.

Contents:

Prologue : October 16, 1859

pt. 1. The road to Harpers Ferry

School of adversity

I consecrate my life

A warlike spirit

First blood

Secret service

This spark of fire

pt. 2. Into Africa

My invisibles

Into the breach

I am nearly disposed of now

pt. 3. They will Brown us all

His despised poor

A full fountain of bedlam

So let it be done!

Dissevering the ties that bind us

Epilogue : Immortal raiders.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [341]-344) and index.

ISBN:

9780805091533 (hbk.)

080509153X (hbk.)

OCLC:

697267337