Overview

From his obsession with the founding principles of the United States to his cold-blooded killings in the battle over slavery's expansion, John Brown forced his countrymen to reckon with America's violent history, its chequered progress toward racial equality, and its resistance to substantive change. Tracing Brown's legacy through writers and artists like Thomas Hovenden, W. E. B. Du Bois, Robert Penn Warren, Jacob Lawrence, Kara Walker, and others, Blake Gilpin transforms Brown from an object of endless manipulation into a dynamic medium for contemporary beliefs about the process and purpose of the American republic. Gilpin argues that the endless distortions of John Brown, misrepresentations of a man and a cause simultaneously noble and terrible, have only obscured our understanding of the past and loosened our grasp of the historical episodes that define America's struggles for racial equality. By showing Brown's central role in the relationship between the American past and the American present, Gilpin clarifies Brown's complex legacy and highlights his importance in the nation's ongoing struggle with the role of violence, the meaning of equality, and the intertwining paths these share with the process of change.

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9781469613956

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Reviews

Gilpin provides a compelling analysis of an important topic.--West Virginia History Another fascinating study of how Americans have considered violence and change through their memories of one man and one event. . . . An excellent book.--Journal of Southern History Provides a refreshing reprieve from the typical biography by synthesizing a study of John Brown's legacy.--Louisiana History [A] fine study. . . . [that] examine[s] with equal sophistication the diverse forms in which Brown has become a vehicle for some of the most pressing ideological debates in American political culture.--Journal of American History [Gilpin] illuminates how the memory of John Brown inspired white and black Americans. . . to understand the relationship between violence, equality, and social change.--Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians To read Gilpin's volume is to be overwhelmed by the unrelieved opportunism that, from every spot on the political spectrum, has found in John Brown the perfect vehicle for partisan gain.--Journal of American Studies [Gilpin's] analysis is pointed and pertinent. University students will especially profit from his resurrections of Brown.--Library Journal Gilpin's book shows . . . that John Brown remains a lightning rod in American culture, and the wildly divergent opinions of Brown are a testament to the power of history to define a man, his ideals, and his nation.--Kansas History Gilpin's book is an outstanding contribution to the growing body of work on historical memory.--American Historical Review

Gilpin provides a compelling analysis of an important topic.--West Virginia History Gilpin's book shows . . . that John Brown remains a lightning rod in American culture, and the wildly divergent opinions of Brown are a testament to the power of history to define a man, his ideals, and his nation.--Kansas History [A] fine study. . . . [that] examine[s] with equal sophistication the diverse forms in which Brown has become a vehicle for some of the most pressing ideological debates in American political culture.--Journal of American History [Gilpin] illuminates how the memory of John Brown inspired white and black Americans. . . to understand the relationship between violence, equality, and social change.--Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians [Gilpin's] analysis is pointed and pertinent. University students will especially profit from his resurrections of Brown.--Library Journal Another fascinating study of how Americans have considered violence and change through their memories of one man and one event. . . . An excellent book.--Journal of Southern History Provides a refreshing reprieve from the typical biography by synthesizing a study of John Brown's legacy.--Louisiana History To read Gilpin's volume is to be overwhelmed by the unrelieved opportunism that, from every spot on the political spectrum, has found in John Brown the perfect vehicle for partisan gain.--Journal of American Studies Gilpin's book is an outstanding contribution to the growing body of work on historical memory.--American Historical Review

Gilpin's book shows . . . that John Brown remains a lightning rod in American culture, and the wildly divergent opinions of Brown are a testament to the power of history to define a man, his ideals, and his nation.--Kansas History Provides a refreshing reprieve from the typical biography by synthesizing a study of John Brown's legacy.--Louisiana History [Gilpin] illuminates how the memory of John Brown inspired white and black Americans. . . to understand the relationship between violence, equality, and social change.--Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians To read Gilpin's volume is to be overwhelmed by the unrelieved opportunism that, from every spot on the political spectrum, has found in John Brown the perfect vehicle for partisan gain.--Journal of American Studies Gilpin's book is an outstanding contribution to the growing body of work on historical memory.--American Historical Review Gilpin provides a compelling analysis of an important topic.--West Virginia History Another fascinating study of how Americans have considered violence and change through their memories of one man and one event. . . . An excellent book.--Journal of Southern History [A] fine study. . . . [that] examine[s] with equal sophistication the diverse forms in which Brown has become a vehicle for some of the most pressing ideological debates in American political culture.--Journal of American History [Gilpin's] analysis is pointed and pertinent. University students will especially profit from his resurrections of Brown.--Library Journal

John Brown has mesmerized and polarized Americans for 150 years, speaking in different tongues to black and white, North and South, left and right. Gilpin dissects both the man and the myth to show how clashing visions of race and reform have shaped memory of Brown in every era. Provocative and illuminating, this book should be read by anyone who cares about Brown, the legacy of slavery, and the use and abuse of history in America. --Tony Horwitz, author of Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War

Author Information

R. Blakeslee Gilpin is visiting assistant professor of history at the University of South Carolina, USA. He is a past fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and at the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

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