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Powell's Staff: New Literature in Translation: December 2022 and January 2023 (0 comment)
It may be a new year, this may be a list of new books, but our love for literature in translation hasn’t changed at all, and we are so pleased to be enthusiastically recommending these recent releases. On this list, you’ll find a Spanish novel where controversy swirls around a Coca-Cola billboard...
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  • Kelsey Ford: From the Stacks: J. M. Ledgard's Submergence (0 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: Five Book Friday: Year of the Rabbit (1 comment)

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Midnight Rising John Brown & the Raid That Sparked the Civil War

by Tony Horwitz
Midnight Rising John Brown & the Raid That Sparked the Civil War

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ISBN13: 9780805091533
ISBN10: 080509153X
Condition: Standard
DustJacket: Standard

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Awards

A New York Times Notable Book for 2011

A Library Journal Top Ten Best Books of 2011


Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Plotted in secret, launched in the dark, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry was a pivotal moment in U.S. history. But few Americans know the true story of the men and women who launched a desperate strike at the slaveholding South. Now, Midnight Rising portrays Brown's uprising in vivid color, revealing a country on the brink of explosive conflict.

Brown, the descendant of New England Puritans, saw slavery as a sin against America's founding principles. Unlike most abolitionists, he was willing to take up arms, and in 1859 he prepared for battle at a hideout in Maryland, joined by his teenage daughter, three of his sons, and a guerrilla band that included former slaves and a dashing spy. On October 17, the raiders seized Harper's Ferry, stunning the nation and prompting a counterattack led by Robert E. Lee. After Brown's capture, his defiant eloquence galvanized the North and appalled the South, which considered Brown a terrorist. The raid also helped elect Abraham Lincoln, who later began to fulfill Brown's dream with the Emancipation Proclamation, a measure he called "a John Brown raid, on a gigantic scale."

Tony Horwitz's riveting book travels antebellum America to deliver both a taut historical drama and a telling portrait of a nation divided — a time that still resonates in ours.

Review

"A hard-driving narrative of one of Americas most troubling figures... Horwitz describes the disaster in riveting terms... It's impossible to read this fine book without thinking about modern-day Browns." Kevin Boyle, The New York Times Book Review

Review

"Horwitz's skills are a good match for this enormously compelling character, and his well-paced narrative incorporates masterful sketches of Browns family, foot soldiers, financial backers, admirers and prosecutors... The result is both page-turning and heartbreaking — a book to engage mind and soul." The Boston Globe

Review

"Horwitz, an exceptionally skilled and accomplished journalist, here turns his hand to pure history with admirable results. Midnight Rising is smoothly written, thoroughly researched, places Brown within the context of his time and place, and treats him sensitively but scarcely adoringly." The Washington Post

Review

"Midnight Rising is a richly detailed and engaging history... Horwitz's moment-by-moment account of the doomed raid unfolds with such immediacy that he reintroduces suspense to a story we all know from textbooks." The San Francisco Chronicle

Review

"What do you call John Brown? Is he a terrorist or a freedom fighter? ... Tony Horwitz settles upon the word insurgent — and the label seems just right, as does Horwitz's book as a whole... Midnight Rising rolls through a series of indelible scenes... The book becomes a graceful narrative, ever engaging, with the reader allowed to connect Brown and his contemporaries to conflicts that continue to our day." Seattle Times

Review

"Horwitz's potent prose delivers the facts of this bellwether incident in riveting fashion... It is an absorbing portrait of the often frustrated but passionately driven firebrand who successfully convinced a country of the shame of slavery and, to the Souths great regret, earned martyr status in the aftermath of his execution. Brown qualifies as Americas first important post-revolution terrorist... Horwitz brings events to life with almost cinematic clarity, and for American history and Civil War aficionados, Midnight Rising is required reading." Bookpage

Review

"Horwitz's description of the little band of idealists and adventurers who signed on for Browns offensive — including five black men and two of Browns own sons — is both fascinating and touching. His careful recreation of the bloody events of October 16, 1859, the day of Browns disastrous raid on Harper's Ferry, is both suspenseful and heartwrenching." Christian Science Monitor

Review

"In Midnight Rising, [Horwitz] not only gives us an action-packed adventure story, but also provides detailed historical background and vivid character portraits of the principals involved... Assiduously researched using archival sources, Horwitz's riveting tale is on sound factual footing. And he does a wonderful job of bringing to life the fascinating, messianic leader who, on the way to the gallows, would incite a nation toward civil war." St. Petersburg Times

Review

"A groundbreaking study of the Harper's Ferry raid that makes a number of fascinating points: Brown was not a madman or a fanatic, he knew his death would serve as a moral lightning rod, and the fallout from his actions has echoed for generations." Oregonian

Synopsis

A New York Times Notable Book for 2011
A Library Journal Top Ten Best Books of 2011
A Boston Globe Best Nonfiction Book of 2011

Bestselling author Tony Horwitz tells the electrifying tale of the daring insurrection that put America on the path to bloody war

Plotted in secret, launched in the dark, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was a pivotal moment in U.S. history. But few Americans know the true story of the men and women who launched a desperate strike at the slaveholding South. Now, Midnight Rising portrays Brown's uprising in vivid color, revealing a country on the brink of explosive conflict.

Brown, the descendant of New England Puritans, saw slavery as a sin against America's founding principles. Unlike most abolitionists, he was willing to take up arms, and in 1859 he prepared for battle at a hideout in Maryland, joined by his teenage daughter, three of his sons, and a guerrilla band that included former slaves and a dashing spy. On October 17, the raiders seized Harpers Ferry, stunning the nation and prompting a counterattack led by Robert E. Lee. After Brown's capture, his defiant eloquence galvanized the North and appalled the South, which considered Brown a terrorist. The raid also helped elect Abraham Lincoln, who later began to fulfill Brown's dream with the Emancipation Proclamation, a measure he called "a John Brown raid, on a gigantic scale."

Tony Horwitz's riveting book travels antebellum America to deliver both a taut historical drama and a telling portrait of a nation divided--a time that still resonates in ours.

Synopsis

Bestselling author Tony Horwitz tells the electrifying tale of the daring insurrection that put America on the path to bloody war.

Synopsis

A New York Times Notable Book for 2011

A Library Journal Top Ten Best Books of 2011

A Boston Globe Best Nonfiction Book of 2011Late on the night of October 16, 1859, John Brown launched a surprise raid on the slaveholding South. Leading a biracial band of militant idealists, he seized the massive armory at Harpers Ferry, freed and armed slaves, and vowed to liberate every bondsman in America.Browns daring strike sparked a savage street fight and a counterattack by U.S. Marines under Robert E. Lee. The bloodshed and court drama that followed also shocked a divided nation and propelled it toward civil war. Tony Horwitz's Midnight Rising brings Brown and his uprising vividly to life and charts Americas descent into explosive conflict. The result is a taut and indispensable history of a man and a time that still resonate in our own.

Synopsis

One of the most acclaimed travel writers of our time turns his unflinching eye on an American South too often overlooked.

About the Author

Tony Horwitz is the bestselling author of Midnight Rising, A Voyage Long and Strange, Blue Latitudes, Confederates in the Attic, and Baghdad Without a Map. He is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked for The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker. He lives in Martha's Vineyard with his wife, Geraldine Brooks, and their two sons.

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`
Ashley Bowen-Murphy , January 03, 2012 (view all comments by Ashley Bowen-Murphy)
"Midnight Rising" provides an excellent introduction to John Brown and the era immediately prior to the Civil War. Tony Horwitz tells Brown's story in ways that are half-history and half-adventure chronicle. I was impressed that Horwitz made the 300+ page account of abolitionists, failed military campaigns, and strange (to say the least) personality a page turner... but he did! Horwitz also manages to avoid caricaturing Brown as either outright crazy or pure hero. Instead, the reader gets a near-journalistic look at a man whose raid certainly contributed to the start of the Civil War. More than just an account of the raid's events, though, Horwitz uses the raid as a jumping off point for several interesting themes and issues. Among these, John Brown's raid presents fodder to reflect on the nature of martyrdom and the role/nature of failure in service to a political cause. Ultimately, "Midnight Rising" doesn't really delve deeply into these themes. Unlike many of Horwitz's other titles, it focuses exclusively on the events of the past. As a result, that may limit his ability to reflect on these larger themes that the text suggests. It's nevertheless a fantastic read (much, much better than Robert Penn Warren's "John Brown: The Making of a Martyr" and I say that as someone who ADORES Robert Penn Warren's writing). This book is also very well illustrated, always a plus when there are lots of names to remember.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780805091533
Binding:
Hardcover
Publication date:
10/25/2011
Publisher:
Henry Holt & Company
Pages:
384
Height:
1.24IN
Width:
6.42IN
Thickness:
1.25
Illustration:
Yes
Copyright Year:
2011
Author:
Tony Horwitz
Author:
Paul Theroux
Author:
Dan Oreskes
Author:
Tony Horwitz
Subject:
US History-19th Century
Subject:
United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Subject:
US History-1800 to Civil War

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