A wonderful, detailed biography of a strange and twisted man who helped start the Civil War. Brown is revealed in his complexity and madness; I enjoyed seeing how his early failures, disappointments, and religious extremism built up the man who raided Harper’s Ferry. Oates also does a great job of showing Brown as a component and influencer of larger social, political, and economic movements in his time.
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Review:
- Links: Buy this book
- Finished: 2012
- More from this year: 2012