Reviews for John Brown: The Making of a Martyr (Southern Classics Series)

The average rating for John Brown: The Making of a Martyr (Southern Classics Series) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-12 00:00:00 Carl Stewart I chose to read this book for two reasons. First, since I really appreciate the writing style of Robert Penn Warren, I have plans to read every book ever he ever wrote, and this book was his first. Second, even after having lived in Kansas my entire life and hearing about John Brown throughout my lifetime (mostly with the label as a hero abolitionist), I realized my knowledge regarding the man was limited to a few minor facts and general opinions. Whenever I read biographies, especially biographies over a person as plagued in controversy as John Brown, I generally try to select biographies considered to be or at least intended to be unbiased. Although, per the foreward, this was the intention of the author for this particular John Brown biography, a general disapproval of John Brown's behavior was clear to me. Perhaps in the case of John Brown, however, this general approval allowed for a more complete biography compared to biographies portraying the man as a hero abolitionist. After reading the book, my opinion of John Brown is that he was perhaps not a evil man, but was not likely a Christian man (or if he was a Christian, he was not a Christian as close to God as he would have believed). My opinion is that the massacre at Pottawattamie where innocent men with opposing points of view were executed at point blank range under the direct orders and supervision of John Brown changed the course for the man, and such a man who commits such an action without any remorse or regret (no evidence has been provided where he expresses either as far as I am aware) cannot be considered a "good man" even with the noble pretext of abolishing slavery. I do, however, admire his persistence and determination. Failure after failure in both business and his noble cause did not deter him from his ultimate vision. I also have to respect his plan for his final mission in which he was ultimately captured and subsequently hanged. The entire mission depended on support from nearby slaves under the assumption that the slaves would recognize their opportunity for freedom and immediately join the abolitionist cause, and although we can never know for sure, I believe he would have been able to escape southward past the Marines and militiamen if he would have been able to gather perhaps even half the expected number of slaves to fight. But he didn't, so we will never know.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-05-16 00:00:00 Jason Gross I've often said that I don't know how to rate Non-Fiction books. I figured that I was interested in the topic, and have often marveled at the dearth of widely available information regarding the colonial era slave culture. Since I've written a SF novel set in the 1730's that involves slavery in the colonies I figured I should have some minimal exposure to the historicity of the era (before I release it to my half-dozen or so potential readers). Imagine my great joy when I stumbled on this little gem in a used bookstore. Of course, I was frustrated that of the four main parts of this book, only one really focused on the Atlantic trade... an area of which I knew very little and found horrible and fascinating. The remaining portions were also informative and clearly written, although they bounced around a bit and were frustratingly non-specific about when particular moments happened, was it 1680? 1760? Who knows? I mean, the author did indicate that there were several periods, sometimes decades long, when attitudes towards slavery were softening, and freedoms were granted to slaves, to times when those freedoms were being taken away and more racists attitudes dominated. Also, northern slaves, southern slaves, slaves in the Chesapeake area, or even the difference between a creole slave and one straight from africa were worlds apart in their treatment, their expectations, of their liberties.... this book tries to make a cohesive tale out of a pretty complicated matter that spanned centuries. Still, good job all round keeping this concise, and in providing about the best bibliography I've seen in awhile.