by Tony Horwitz
First published 2011
In 1859, abolitionist John Brown and his armed band launch a daring raid on the slaveholding South, seizing the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Their desperate strike stuns the nation, igniting the flames of civil war. As Brown's defiant eloquence galvanizes the North, the South brands him a terrorist. This true-life drama reveals the country on the brink of explosive conflict, a division that still echoes today.
Genres: biography, american-civil-war, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: political-intrigue, true-story
Setting: Harpers Ferry (W. Va.), United States
Period: John Brown's Raid, 1859
567 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Press