John Brown is a lightning rod of history. Yet he is poorly understood and most commonly described in stereotypes -- as a madman; martyr; or enigma. Not until Patriotic Treason has a biography or history brought him so fully to life; in scintillating prose and moving detail; making his life and legacy -- and the staggering sacrifices he made for his ideals-fascinatingly relevant to today's issues of social justice and to defining the line between activism and terrorism. Vividly re-creating the world in which Brown and his compatriots lived with a combination of scrupulous original research; new perspectives; and a sensitive historical imagination; Patriotic Treason narrates the dramatic life of the first U.S. citizen committed to absolute racial equality. Here are his friendships (Brown lived; worked; ate; and fought alongside African Americans; in defiance of the culture around him); his family (he turned his twenty children by two wives into a dedicated militia); and his ideals (inspired by the Declaration of Independence and the Golden Rule; he collaborated with black leaders such as Frederick Douglass; Martin Delany; and Harriet Tubman to overthrow slavery). Evan Carton captures the complex; tragic; and provocative story of Brown the committed abolitionist; Brown the tender yet demanding and often absent father and husband; and Brown the radical American patriot who attacked the American state in the name of American principles. Through new research into archives; attention to overlooked family letters; and reinterpretation of documents and events; Carton essentially reveals a missing link in American history. A wrenching family saga; Patriotic Treason positions John Brown at the heart of our most profound and enduring national debates. As definitions of patriotism and treason are fiercely contested; as some criticize religious extremism while others mourn religion's decline; and as race relations in America remain unresolved; John Brown's story speaks to us as never before; reminding us that one courageous individual can change the course of history.
#933081 in Books Free Press 2002-06-01 2002-06-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 1.60 x 6.12l; 1.32 #File Name: 074320249X560 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. AstonishingBy Victor L. MaqqueIt is a broad and deep study of what we the humans are as part of our environment.0 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Three StarsBy mac tuckerkill me now1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A Good Idea; But…By JohnCarrIt took me a long time to read this book and I undertake this review with less enthusiasm than that for any other review I’ve written. It’s not that I think this book is particularly bad; I don’t. Rather I find it hard to think of anything worthwhile to say and I fear that my review may bear a resemblance to its subject in that the whole may be less than the sum of its parts.The author tells us; “I have written it in something like a frenzy; anxious to get down what I wanted to say before I forgot it. No mature deliberation has formed it.â€It shows.It is said – though I don’t think anyone has traced the source – that when asked about modern/Western (depending on who’s telling the story) civilization that Gandhi replied that it would be a good idea.This book was a good idea but not one properly realized.My first difficulty is with the book’s title and a problem with word usage in the English language. The noun “civilization†and the adjective “civilized†may have the same root but members of a given civilization may deal with less powerful; “uncivilized†people in a very uncivilized manner e.g. the treatment of the Tasmanian Aborigines.In Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s own description of this work; "Unlike previous attempts to write the comparative history of civilizations; it is arranged environment by environment; rather than period by period or society by society." Each of the groups he examines is labelled a civilization. Now as Alfred Crosby has written; “Civilization is a saltpeter of a word; often triggering explosive arguments. I use it not in moral comment; but simply in reference to peoples settled in cities; villages; hamlets; and to the kind of political; economic; social; and military structures associated with such populations.â€For me for a culture to qualify as a civilization it has to have cities; an advanced level of social hierarchy and organization (including organized religion); and – possibly except from the Incas – a writing system.Fernandez-Armesto writes; “I propose to define it as a type of relationship: a relationship to the natural environment; recrafted; by the civilizing impulse; to meet human demands. By "a civilization" I mean a society in such a relationship.â€If I may quote from Through the Looking Glass;"When I use a word;" Humpty Dumpty said; in rather a scornful tone; "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.""The question is;" said Alice; "whether you can make words mean so many different things."I side with Alice.As with the author’s work ‘Millennium’; the scholarship is impressive; the erudition vast. You or I may disagree with the author’s views but I for one would be hard pressed to catch him out in a factual error.And he does make some interesting points; particularly on the importance of wind and sea current patterns and on the impact on the world of the cracking of the Atlantic patterns by Europeans to the extent that;“Not only were virtually all maritime empires founded by Atlantic-side states; there was; effectively; no Atlantic-side state that did not have one. The only possible exceptions are Norway; Ireland; and Iceland; but these states did not achieve sovereignty themselves until the twentieth century and so missed the great ages of oceanic empire-building.â€The book contains many anecdotes only one of which I can remember. It relates to the brother of Mansa Musa; much beloved of authors of school history textbooks as they have a Sub-Saharan African they can write about. It was told by Ibn Battuta; the greatest of known medieval travellers;“Cannibal envoys; whom the mansa presented with a slave girl; appeared at court to thank him; daubed with the blood of the gift they had just consumedâ€.I haven’t seen that one in any textbooks.While I can’t particularly recommend this book; particularly for those who haven’t read a lot of world history; it is worth dipping in and out of if you wanted to consider the effects of environment of the societies they shape and which in turn shape them.
