To Purge This Land with Blood: A Biography of John Brown

by Stephen B. Oates Narrated by Stephen R. Thorne

Overview

In October 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. His goal was to secure weapons and start a slave rebellion. The raid was a failure, but it galvanized the nation and sparked the Civil War.



Still one of the most controversial figures in American history, John Brown's actions raise interesting questions about unsanctioned violence that can be justified for a greater good.



For more than a hundred years after Brown's hanging, biographies of him tended to be highly politicized-then came historian Stephen B. Oates's biography of Brown. Since its publication, Professor Oates's work has come to be recognized as the definitive biography of Brown, a balanced assessment that captures the man in all his complexity.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"The most objective and absorbing biography of John Brown ever written. Its title captures perfectly Brown's own conception of his role in the antislavery crusade. Oates describes with subtlety and detail John Brown's early career, his struggles with poverty, illness, and death, the desperate straits the man was put to in support of his large family of twenty children. . . . To Oates's credit he describes John Brown's crimes [at Pottawatomie Creek] as unflinchingly as he describes his hardships."—New York Review of Books "Brown's life was filled with drama, and Oates tells his story in a manner so engrossing that the book reads like a novel, despite the fact that it is extensively documented and researched."—Eric Foner, New York Times Book Review "A major work, based on research in a wide variety of sources, including some manuscript collections not available to previous biographers. It is a full-scale biography that treats in detail Brown's career before he went to Kansas and his actions in that territory, as well as the blazing climax at Harpers Ferry."—Saturday Review

Saturday Review

A major work, based on research in a wide variety of sources, including some manuscript collections not available to previous biographers. It is a full-scale biography that treats in detail Brown's career before he went to Kansas and his actions in that territory, as well as the blazing climax at Harpers Ferry.

New York Review of Books

The most objective and absorbing biography of John Brown ever written. Its title captures perfectly Brown's own conception of his role in the antislavery crusade. Oates describes with subtlety and detail John Brown's early career, his struggles with poverty, illness, and death, the desperate straits the man was put to in support of his large family of twenty children.... To Oates's credit he describes John Brown's crimes [at Pottawatomie Creek] as unflinchingly as he describes his hardships.

New York Times Book Review - Eric Foner

Brown's life was filled with drama, and Oates tells his story in a manner so engrossing that the book reads like a novel, despite the fact that it is extensively documented and researched.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175282277
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	10/18/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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