American Terrorist and Martyr, His Soul Goes Marching On

John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights, by David S. Reynolds. Alfred A. Knopf, 578 pages, $35.

On Nov. 7, 1959, The Chicago Defender commemorated the centennial of John Brown’s death: “The paradox of Brown’s idealistic goals and his fearless methods are still being argued in Read More

Giving the Story of John Brown To Its Only Survivor

Cloudsplitter , by Russell Banks. Harper Flamingo, 758 pages, $27.50.

Russell Banks does not know why he is not a drunk or a bum, or a man caught in a hardscrabble north woods life repairing oil burners or plowing snow, drinking heavily at the local, eyeing the waitresses, missing his children who live with his Read More