Meteor of War: The John Brown Story [Paperback]

Zoe Trodd (Editor), John Stauffer (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1881089398 | ISBN-13: 978-1881089391 | Publication Date: July 26, 2004 | Edition: 1

Few men in American history have been at once as glorified and maligned as John Brown. From his attack of the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in October 1859, as part of a scheme to free the slaves, Brown has been called a saint and sinner, rogue and redeemer, martyr and madman. Brown rebelled against the American government, and he murdered men in Kansas in order to end the murderous institution of slavery. He denounced war, but made war on his government in order to end an existing war for slavery.

This anthology, which presents Brown's writing and diverse responses to his life and raid, offers a lens through which to analyze these tensions and contradictions. Extensive introductions to every source offer a close reading of language and provide full historical and biographical background.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Few men in American history have been at once as glorified and maligned as John Brown. From his attack of the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in October 1859, as part of a scheme to free the slaves, Brown has been called a saint and sinner, rogue and redeemer, martyr and madman. Brown rebelled against the American government, and he murdered men in Kansas in order to end the murderous institution of slavery. He denounced war, but made war on his government in order to end an existing war for slavery.

This anthology, which presents Brown's writing and diverse responses to his life and raid, offers a lens through which to analyze these tensions and contradictions. Extensive introductions to every source offer a close reading of language and provide full historical and biographical background.

About the Author

Zoe Trodd is on the Tutorial Board in the History and Literature department at Harvard University, where she researches American protest literature. Her other books include American Protest Literature (2006), To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today’s Slaves (2008), and The Long Civil Rights Movement (2008). She has also published numerous articles on American literature, history and visual culture.

John Stauffer is the author of The Black Hearts of Men: Radical Abolitionists and the Transformation of Race, which won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, the Avery Craven Book Prize, and was the Lincoln Prize runner-up. He is the editor of Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom; and is at work on a new book, By the Love of Comrades: Interracial Frienships, Democratic Dream, and the Meaning of Americ. He is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Hummanities at Harvard University, where he teaches courses on American literature and culture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Brandywine Press; 1 edition (July 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881089398
• ISBN-13: 978-1881089391
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #643,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally something decent on John Brown!, September 27, 2004

By 

Jenny200411 (Rochester, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meteor of War: The John Brown Story (Paperback)

I agree with the reviewer above - John Brown is one of those figures that noone really understands so a full length work with sources and analysis of Brown's writings like this has been a long time coming. I teach a class on the coming of the Civil War and my students have already been taught, like most Americans, that John Brown was at best a well-meaning madman. But this book shows the various John Browns of history and myth, so that, whether you agree with the actions of Brown, you will at least understand them better and see him as a complex and human individual. The Harvard authors have a sense for biography and history, and do convincing close readings of John Brown's own writings. Fascinating sources and great prose by the authors, good analysis of art a bonus. It's a good story and told well. I have some criticisms of the politics behind the book but this doesn't detract too much from the overall quality.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOPICAL AND SENSITIVELY WRITTEN, September 25, 2004

By 

ChristopherLeichter (Maine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meteor of War: The John Brown Story (Paperback)

This book reads very well and covers all of John Brown's life and death, then also the huge range of responses to him and his career. The connections that Zoe Trodd and John Stauffer make between John Brown and Timothy Mcveigh is provocative. No one who buys this book will be disappointed.