John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Fight for American Liberty in The Zealot and the Emancipator

Deborah J. Thomas: This has been an intriguing read but very heavy at times. How this author was able to find so much information on the view of John Brown and Abraham Lincoln specific to slavery in the time that they lived boggled my mind.
I cannot read this more than brief periods at a time, as parts of it are so heavy. I was shocked to learn that John Brown's sons killed some people for no good reason and they got away with it for a time.

United States on Jun 25, 2022

Andrew Desmond: Much, of course, is known of Abraham Lincoln. John Brown, however, is less well known, especially outside the United States. Both played key roles in America’s ultimate abolition of slavery. H.W. Brands has written a compelling book about the two men.

Unquestionably, John Brown was a fanatic. He believed in the abolition of slavery and was prepared to go to any length to achieve this aim. Specifically, he hoped to inspire a slave uprising. Slaves would heed his call and take to the mountains of Virginia acting as partisans to overthrow slave based governments. In a direct sense, he failed miserably. His insurrection at Harper’s Landing was a disaster. Many of his followers were killed and Brown himself was captured. He was subsequently hanged for his role as the organiser.

By way of comparison, Abraham Lincoln chose the path of politics as the means by which to achieve change. He was elected as America’s sixteenth president just as the nation fell into civil war. Lincoln was determined to save the Union. However, as time progressed, he gradually placed increased emphasis upon abolishing slavery. The comparison with Brown is fascinating. It is well summarised by...

Australia on Mar 16, 2021

Jennie: This is very informative and an easy read. I am still reading it and still learning things.

Canada on Mar 11, 2021

A. K. Abate: Although perhaps the bane of undergraduates, connections in history, whether serious or serendipitous, bring fascination to the study of past events. My personal favorite comes from Andrew Carroll’s Here is Where. During the height of the Civil War Robert Todd Lincoln, the President’s eldest son, found himself on a railroad platform in Jersey City, New Jersey. As Oswald Laurence was not born until 1929, young Mr. Lincoln failed to “Mind the Gap” falling between the train and the platform. He was pulled to safety by the eminent American actor, Edwin Booth.

If the reader is looking for a connection between John Brown and Abraham Lincoln in H.W. Brands’ new The Zealot and the Emancipator, a connection is likely not to be found. Rather, Brands has authored a fascinating study of the different approaches toward slavery taken by each man—one a lunatic and the other the greatest of Americans. As the zealot, John Brown was single-minded in his God-inspired desire to rid the nation of its curse. As the emancipator, Lincoln would haltingly stumble toward the conclusion that slavery must be the focus of the war while still insisting that the preservation of the Union was...

United States on Dec 16, 2020

MinnesotaMind: Five stars! Despite its awful title!

I should have known I’d love this book; many years ago, I read Brands’s fine Franklin biography, subtitled interestingly enough, “The First American.” Drawn from author’s definition of an American as the Gatsby-like, Bob Dylanesque, product of “creative” autobiography, molecular striving, and a touch of hedonism, Franklin made a well reasoned first entry.

But THIS book!

I have to admit upfront that the American Civil War is one of my educational blindspots. Of course, I have a gauzy understanding of the major players, battles, and “plot.” I also have to admit that this abecedarian understanding is partially my own doing.

An ignorant Yank through and through, growing up in Philadelphia, it was the Revolution, the framing, the towering geniuses of Enlightenment thought. The Civil version, felt like something distant and provincial, weirdly re-enacted, and laboriously detailed with place names and generals.

Well. I’ve lived in Maryland, just outside of DC, for the last 20 years, and the whole thing is much closer—closer because its fundamental arguments are still being re-enacted. Our...

United States on Nov 20, 2020