Midnight Rising : John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War (Paperback)

from laytonwoman3rd

On the night of October 17, 1859, John Brown led a small group of like-minded abolitionists, including 5 black men and two of his own sons, in a raid he had been planning for over a year. It was his intention to occupy the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, from which his band would sei...

from nmele

This is quite different from Horwitz's previous books of history: it's entirely in the third person, for one thing. Although I've been to Harpers Ferry several times and knew the outlines of the story of John Brown's Raid, Horwitz fills in much detail about the raid, as well as about Brown's life...

from CBJames

In 1859 a small group of men, white and black some of them former slaves, set in motion a series of events that culminated in the Civil War. That's one way to look at it, anyway. In the radio interviews Tony Horwitz did last year for his latest book, Midnight Rising, he made the claim that the ra...

from Othemts

Tony Horwitz, one of my favorite authors, presents a compelling history of John Brown and his followers and the keystone event of their raid on Harpers Ferry. Brown's life and family are discussed from childhood, to his involvement in Utopian abolition movements, and their targeted assassinations...

from Journey21

I have read the reviews preceding my own and find them to be correct and enlightening. So, while I encourage others to read them as well, I will endeavor not to repeat what others have said. My only real exception is relative to the author; I find his writing style to be laborious and wandering. ...