Purge This Land W/Blood -2nd E [Paperback]

Warren Oates (Author), Stephen B. Oates (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press (August 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870234587
• ISBN-13: 978-0870234583
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You don't know John Brown, November 29, 1999

By 

taoman (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Purge This Land W/Blood -2nd E (Paperback)

If you were, like I was, taught that John Brown was not much more than a well-meaning madman then you don't know the John Brown of history. Oates does a great job of dispelling that myth as well as presenting for the first time the full picture, thoroughly footnoted, of the man who may have sparked the Civil War. I have small gripes with some of the text, but none worth mentioning here. Read it and be impressed.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Catalyst for the Civil War?, June 18, 2009

By 

Timothy P. Koerner (Great Lakes, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Purge This Land W/Blood -2nd E (Paperback)

Who was John Brown and what made him tick? And what was his significance or importance in the pre-Civil War USA?

Most readers are probably aware Brown led a raid on government property at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The raid's goal was to cause slaves to rebel and to establish a free state in the southern Appalachians. Some might also know that several years earlier he had been a participant in a bloody guerrilla war in Kansas in which Brown's followers killed five people at Pottawatomie Creek.

But it was the Harpers Ferry raid that not only led to his hanging but also shaped his lasting reputation. But how to assess that reputation? Not an easy question. To some he was a crazy terrorist. Others view him as a militant aboltionist determined to bring an end to the institution of slavery even if this resulted in blood being shed.

In this full length biography, Stephen B. Oates narrates Brown's life and seeks to understand the man in the context of his times. He is not writing to praise or damn Brown, which separates him from most others who have written about him. Yet, if the reader detects a somewhat favorable attitude or slant on the part of the author toward his subject, I would not disagree.

So what is Oates' take on Brown? He essentially sees him as an Old Testament/Calvinist fundamentalist who believed that slavery was a sin and, as such, should be done away with. Oates cautions against the previously quite common view of Brown as being "mad" or "crazy". Rather, Brown saw slavery as a horrible evil, as something that violated not only Christian teaching but also the principles upon which the country was founded. When non-violent attempts to do away with the institution were not successful (attempts that Brown had participated in), he concluded that slavery must be purged away with blood. Oates also strongly emphasizes that Brown firmly believed that even if his Harpers Ferry raid failed to lead to slaves revolting, it would be perceived as such a volatile act that civil conflict would follow, almost certainly resulting in slavery's demise. Too, in all his anti-slavery activities, Brown believed he was an instrument in the hands of God.

What were the consequences of Brown's raid and what is its significance? At the very least it led to tremendous fear in the slave states, fears of additional northern abolitionists coming down and attempting to cause servile insurrections. Yet the 1859 raid did not *immediately* at least cause a civil war. That event, the one that led directly to secession and war, was the elction of president Abraham Lincoln, who, by the way, went out of his way to condemn Brown's Harpers Ferry raid, if not Brown's belief that slavery was wrong. Still, it could be argued that Brown's prophecy was correct, for within two years of the raid a bloody civil war DID lead to the destruction of slavery.

In conclusion a few words about the author and book. I have long been an admirer of the writing of Stephen B. Oates, several of whose books I have read, re-read, and recommended. They are all extremely well written and make history come alive. I first read this book nearly four decades ago when it came out. As I am about to undertake a project of reading a couple anthologies about Brown, I decided to revisit this. It's almost as good as it was the first time. Right now it must be the best book on Brown by a historian. However, as I understand a major new work on Brown by a historian is apparently about to be published, I may revise this opinion.

Strongly recommended.
Tim Koerner, June 2009

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Book, October 3, 2007

By 

T. R. Bozer (Central New York State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Purge This Land W/Blood -2nd E (Paperback)

Having read this author's biography of Lincoln (Malice Toward None) I was so impressed with his writing style and story telling that I wanted to stick with him.

This book reads well. I recommend it. I enjoyed it. The book reads like a novel and seemed fairly comprehensive, thought it's under 400 pages and moves along at a comfortable pace. It provides plenty of food for thought about Brown. Having always heard that Brown was a mad-man, I was pleased to find that his story is much more than that.

As far as dismissing John Brown as a crazy, consider how many renowned people of his day he befriended and persuaded to back his endeavors! Were they all crazy too?

The book revealed for me the political / social / religious dynamics of those wild times in a meaningful way. If the issue of John Brown comes up for discussion, I now feel confident to participate.