Reviews for Common Bondage: Slavery as Metaphor in Revolutionary America

The average rating for Common Bondage: Slavery as Metaphor in Revolutionary America based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-02-27 00:00:00 Shane Connor Interesting, quick little read on the Liberty Party in upstate New York in the 1830s/40s. Garrisonian moral suasion abolitionists accused these Liberty Party people of being corrupted by dirty party politics, and the mainstream parties accused them of being anarchists...Strong is arguing that they were neither. He writes that they were trying very hard to toe a line down the middle, and in the end they couldn't toe that line for long. These people DID think that mainstream parties and churches were too corrupt, but they believed that they needed to create new parties and churches which could be pure and sanctified. Then they would purify their communities with these pure institutions, and that purity would radiate out into the larger society, and eventually all of America would be sanctified. And then the Millennium would be at hand, and Jesus would come back, etc. They really believed that every Liberty party vote brought the Millennium one step closer. My only problem here was that it all seemed to wrap up so quickly. Strong is only dealing with upstate New York, and only really the time period where the Liberty Party was getting votes. So a very small area, and only about a decade of time. I would have liked a little more, maybe a chapter comparing these people with their counterparts in another state, like Massachusetts, for example? Something to broaden the scope just a little?

Review # 2 was written on 2019-11-04 00:00:00 Geoffrey Stone This is a remarkable read -- the research Gerda Lerner put forth over many years (decades) to preserve the Grimke sisters'place in history (and the prominence they well deserve) is, in itself, inspiring; however, the impact these two sisters had on both the abolitionist and women's rights movements is truly incredible. That I'd never heard of them until I happened to read Sue Monk Kidd's "The Invention of Wings" (which I thought was a mediocre attempt at historical fiction) is disheartening. Lerner's book should be on everyone's required reading list. If you're a fan of David McCullough or Doris Kearns Goodwin, you will certainly appreciate Lerner's methodical and exhaustive approach to historical research as well as her ability to transport you to a very difficult and tragic time in our nation's history.