Comments on: Emerson on John Brown

By: Fay

Fay — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:12:01 +0000

Greetings. I came across your post today when looking for Emerson’s speeches about John Brown. Tony Horwitz mentions them in his new book about the raid on Harpers Ferry. Based on the comments here, it does appear that feeling about Brown runs high today. One of the most interesting aspects of Horwitz’s account is the insight into Brown’s frame of mind. I think you would like the Horwitz book.- Fay

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:42:02 +0000

Reference Services, thanks! And thanks for the link!

By: Reference Services

Reference Services — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:26:26 +0000

Your blog is terrific!

Here is a blog post about John Brown, Jr. :

http://sanduskyhistory.blogspot.com/2009/03/john-brown-jr-of-put-in-bay.html

By: Sam Houston

Sam Houston — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:09:26 +0000

“and so much of it follows along the lines of the bigotry and malice expressed by Sam Houston the commenter above.”

And with this quote Lou DeCaro Jr. has made my day. I am never impressed when someone decides to use name-calling rather than reason. DeCaro wants us to believe that anyone calling John Brown a murderer is a bigot. I am certainly less of a bigot and filled with less malice than was John Brown himself.

My opinion stands: John Brown was a murderer and deserved his end. The man was willing to kill in order to meet his objectives. There are very few objectives of any sort that cannot be achieved without killing the opposition if they are truly worthwhile objectives to begin with.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:23:36 +0000

Stephanie–thank you so much for your thoughtful and very informative post. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the conversation it invited.

Have you read Cloudsplitter? the novelistic rendering of the John Brown story by Russell Banks? It’s a tremendous novel–way, way high on my list of historical fiction favorites–precisely because Banks’ spinning of the John Brown story doesn’t resolve these complexities. A beautiful novel, beautifully written on an often very ugly subject.