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

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

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 1,302 ratings · 259 reviews

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

Late on the night of October 16, 1859, John Brown launched a surpriseraid 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 bond...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published August 7th 2012 by Picador (first published October 25th 2011)

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Jan 12, 2013 Jack rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is well done, and it's interesting to see Horwitz write a straight-up historical narrative. People expecting a lot of material on historical memory ala Confederates in the Attic will be disappointed. The structure and pacing are good and for the most part Horwitz provides the right amount of context on issues and places for a popular history. I don't know, however, that I really understand John Brown's personality better for having read it. Except for near the end, when Horwitz makes a good...more This is well done, and it's interesting to see Horwitz write a straight-up historical narrative. People expecting a lot of material on historical memory ala Confederates in the Attic will be disappointed. The structure and pacing are good and for the most part Horwitz provides the right amount of context on issues and places for a popular history. I don't know, however, that I really understand John Brown's personality better for having read it. Except for near the end, when Horwitz makes a good case that Brown knew the Harper's Ferry raid would fail, the book focuses more on actions than character when it comes to brown. Several of his supporters come through more vividly, which raises the interesting probability that Brown just never betrayed himself much, even in letters to his family (it's also nice to get a bigger sense of Brown's army as a movement, the kind of people it attracted.) The last chapter, when Horwitz talks about the coming of the civil war, is excellent, but given his past work that should hardly be surprising.

Horwitz also strikes me as a Brown apologist in this. It's a position with which I sympathize, but it can also minimize some important questions. My understanding of the massacre Brown and his people committed in Kansas, for example, it that it was a terrorist act in the literal sense of the word; Brown sought to kill pro-slavery whites in a manner horrible enough to scare other pro-slavery whites into rethinking or subduing their political position. Horwitz situates Brown's actions amid similar acts – both organized and vigilante, fair fights and attacks on unarmed civilians – committed by proslavery factions against antislavery ones during "Bloody Kansas." The frequency of violence, however, contextualizes the moral quandaries here; it doesn't negate them. What do we, here today, make of someone whose tactics seem inexcusable, except that he mobilized them against possibly the greatest national shame in US history (the systematic genocide of Native Americans being the other possible contender)? That's exactly the kind of place where I'd expect Horwitz's journalistic approaches from past books to let him thrive, but oh well. Horwitz does give his readers enough for people to approach these questions for themselves, even if he does seem to plant himself in the Brown as visionary than crackpot camp. In all, a good exercise in historical story telling. (less)

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May 09, 2013 Austin Matthews rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've never agreed with Thomas Jefferson that the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots, but I don't think he's been wrong yet.

We, as free peoples, are defined by our revolutionaries. The immense dissonance in the American psyche by trying to balance the spirit of the Revolution with the constitutionality (and moral preoccupations) of slavery ripped out fragile "bastion of liberty" asunder. John Brown really started that break which would decide the unequivocal nature of equ...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Timothy Riley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: civil-war-reconstruction

Great book. It read very fast and I found it hard to put down. I even read it in the car on my way to work-not recommended. John Brown is a patriot, a hero, and was the truly was the first fighter in the civil war. He was hugely ahead of his times and his martyrdom made abolitionism more popular in the north. People latched onto his example. I couldn't get over the senators from Missouri and the Governor of Virginia and their racist language they displayed in the senate and on other floors. It w...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Kili rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was always puzzled by a historical marker in the Adirondack Mountains for John Brown's cabin. Was this for the John Brown whose body lies amoldering in the grave? What was he doing up in the woods? I knew nothing about John Brown except this line from "Glory, Glory Hallelujah". I figured he had something to do with abolitionism because that song is from the Civil War.

This book is scholarly in its depth but reads like a popular book, and left me wondering why John Brown is not better remembere...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Kate Lawrence rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-history

Having grown up in eastern Kansas, I've been fascinated by John Brown ever since I saw, as a school child, the stunning mural of him in the Kansas State Capitol building. (The painting is "Tragic Prelude" by Kansas artist John Steuart Curry.) When I learned that Horwitz, one of my favorite historians, had taken up Brown's story, I knew I had to read it, and what better time than on the anniversary of the Harpers Ferry raid Oct. 16? Horwitz does thorough and impeccable research, gives his readers...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Roberta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am not normally a reader of nonfiction, but the visit of author Tony Horwitz who spoke at a St. Louis County author event, sparked an interest in reading this one. Horwitz researched this well, and he writes well. Interestingly, his wife is also a well-known writer, Australian Geraldine Brooks, who wrote People of the Book, March, and others.

As Girl Scouts sitting around campfires, we used to sing a parody of the song "John Brown's Body" (which, Horwitz writes, became a Union marching song and...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Dana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

another "bad" review, but i only thought it was ok (i don't define the stars!). it's well written and researched, as usual by TH, but i did not choose wisely. it's not his usual travelogue style and it's a history book of the start of the civil war: just not a good selection for my interests. so don't judge this book based on my two stars. if i liked war and war history more i'd probably give it a 5.

first 100 pages bored me. too much setting the scene to describe john brown. maybe if you're real...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

Midnight Rising carves a new path for Horwitz; unlike his previous books, this is not a travelogue interspersed with witty observations and funny interactions as Tony plots his way through the modern jungles of history. Instead, he has set out to write history.

Unfortunately, the casual reader expecting what has become Horwitz's tantalizing trope will instead be disappointed, as will those picking it up for a 'history' of John Brown's life. While Hortwitz has done research with Brown's extensive...more Midnight Rising carves a new path for Horwitz; unlike his previous books, this is not a travelogue interspersed with witty observations and funny interactions as Tony plots his way through the modern jungles of history. Instead, he has set out to write history.

Unfortunately, the casual reader expecting what has become Horwitz's tantalizing trope will instead be disappointed, as will those picking it up for a 'history' of John Brown's life. While Hortwitz has done research with Brown's extensive letters, including a number of good quotes, the final product is simply a synthesis of the very well-trodden path of John Brown. There have been at least a dozen books printed in the last ten years, surrounding the 150th anniversary of the attack on Harpers Ferry, and here Hortwitz offers nothing new.

First, some things that are done well. Horwitz has eschewed that annoying tendency of most popular history to quote the secondary sources (other literature written by historians). Most of the quotations are directly Brown's words, or those of Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, etc. This gives a freshness to the book that keeps the reader involved in the process of arriving at their own interpretation of Brown, a skill that is more difficult to achieve than you'd think. Second, the focus of the final chapters on the aftermath and the relationship of Brown's actions to the larger national crises of the 1850s is precisely the kind of context that readers need to fully connect idea-man-action- and consequences.

Yet, in other sections when Horwitz sets the background for Brown's ideas--e.g. Brown's shift towards a stronger anti-slavery stance in the 1830s--he misses discussing several additional key factors. Indeed, Nat Turner and William Lloyd Garrison were important events in 1831 that influenced Brown and others, but the trans-Atlantic connections of the anti-slavery movement were just as vital to the story. Britain was abolishing slavery throughout the empire, leaving the United States the last industrialized (read civilized to their 19th c. worldview) nation to still permit slavery. That created international and domestic political pressures that cannot be overlooked.

Likewise, Hortwitz does not make clear that Frederick Douglass actually was lukewarm at best in supporting John Brown. Douglass was of course glad for anyone supporting the cause of ending slavery, but he withdrew from Brown in the 1850s and refused to participate in Brown's plans because he thought the man was dangerous (acting before fully planning). Many of the 'Secret Six' supporters in New England thought it best to quietly support Brown from a distance. And, Douglass split with Garrison, Brown, and other abolitionists over the increasing role of women in the anti-slavery movement, an essential component to the narrative that is not even mentioned here.

All this is to say, while the book is a noble attempt to write history for a popular audience, Midnight Rising has some factual and interpretative errors that make it difficult to recommend as a stand-alone history. Nor is it the typical fun-loving Hortwitz travelogue that most would expect. Those interested in learning more about Brown would still be best served to check out Stephen Oates or one of the other recent biographies. (less)

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Jun 29, 2012 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, light summer reading this is not, but if you're looking for an affecting portrait of John Brown, this is the book for you. Even if you don't think you want that kind of book you might want to give this one a go.

Tony Horwitz is a masterful writer and his straightforward style is perfect for this story. I found myself near tears upon several occasions while reading this book, and that is in part because Horwitz knows how to tell it. His background as a journalist keeps him from getting flow...more

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May 12, 2012 Molly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Engrossing, moving account of radical abolitionist John Brown, driven by his righteous anger to seize a military arsenal as a means of inciting the nation to rise up and defeat the institution of slavery. Recommended on the on-going 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

Some historians and writers (including Fredrick Douglas, a friend of John Brown) consider the raid on Harpers Ferry – while in itself a failure – the true start of the war. It prompted fear, paranoia and Confederate indignation bel...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Converse rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, non-fiction, politics

In October 1859, John Brown and a small, multi-racial group of his followers occupied parts of the federal armory and arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia). In the next few hours they took some hostages and freed some of the slaves of hostages (one of whom had a family connection to George Washington). Despite considerable confusion, the local townspeople and local Virginia militia quickly surrounded the raiders in the buidings they occupied - a detail about which I had been...more In October 1859, John Brown and a small, multi-racial group of his followers occupied parts of the federal armory and arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia). In the next few hours they took some hostages and freed some of the slaves of hostages (one of whom had a family connection to George Washington). Despite considerable confusion, the local townspeople and local Virginia militia quickly surrounded the raiders in the buidings they occupied - a detail about which I had been previously unaware. U. S. army officer Robert E. Lee, assisted by Jeb Stuart, then crushed the resistance with a few score Marines. Most of those raiders who were not already killed were captured and hanged a few months later after trials in Virginia courts. A few members of Brown's party, mainly those who were in Maryland waiting to bring up supplies, survived the events.

John Brown had previously become notorious for several killings of pro-slavery men in Kansas, during the period when there was conflict in that territory over the issue of slavery being legal once it became a state, an issue which thanks to Senator Douglas of Illinois was left up to the citizens of the territory.

One question is what exactly Brown hoped to achieve in Harper's Ferry. His previous plans had generally suggested a vast raid to free slaves; but his immobility once he occupied parts of the armory and arsenal are inconsistent with this plan. Horwitz makes the reasonable suggestion that the raid was intended as a combination suicide mission and publicity stunt, designed to increase tension between the north and south to spark a conflict over slavery. The one point I would make against this hypothesis is that if that is all that Brown wanted to accomplish, it was unnecessary to stockpile all those pikes, revolvers and carbines in preparation for the raid. Perhaps Brown himself was of two minds regarding his plans.

Brown's raid probably made it easier for succession to occur upon the election of Lincoln, by changing people's attitudes. Southern politicians often took Brown's raid, and the sympathy he received from many in the north, as evidence that northern opinion was really uncompromisingly abolitionist.

The narrative's pace can be a slow, mainly because Horwitz writes about what Brown was doing before he became a violent anti-slavery activist. Overall, I enjoyed the book.(less)

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Apr 21, 2012 Sandie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Painstakingly researched, Midnight Rising is Tony Horowitz's account of John Brown and the raid at Harper's Ferry. Militarily, this was a small operation, but most people have heard of it. What makes it so important? Horowitz explains the country's environment and ambiance at the time which made this such an explosive event.

Tensions ran high in the country. The Abolitionists were convinced that slavery was an abomination; one that there was no action too desperate to try to eradicate. Those who...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Jennifer Swapp rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an excellent biography of John Brown, linking his raid on Harper's Ferry as what finally sparked the civil war. I was enthralled by the complexities of John Brown-his love of life, and his fist coldblooded massacre, his patient, loving letters home to his wife and children, along with his willingness to leave his wife impoverished and alone as she birthed and raised their 13 children, and buried many of them.
His life exemplified his belief that all men/women are created equal, in a way...more This was an excellent biography of John Brown, linking his raid on Harper's Ferry as what finally sparked the civil war. I was enthralled by the complexities of John Brown-his love of life, and his fist coldblooded massacre, his patient, loving letters home to his wife and children, along with his willingness to leave his wife impoverished and alone as she birthed and raised their 13 children, and buried many of them.
His life exemplified his belief that all men/women are created equal, in a way that very few people, including Abraham Lincoln and many abolitionists understood the idea. He would break bread, converse, and sleep with blacks as his equal. Even many in the north, while disliking slavery were at least complicit in racism, if not blatantly so.
John Brown's hatred of slavery raised many questions for me: is it ok to be moved by a hatred of something that is socially acceptable to the majority and yet seems so contrary to God's commandments? Does hatred obscure reason, and cause one to sin, or in his case was it a necessary emotion- should he have worked as a Christian to root out hatred, and seek for more peaceful measures. This book makes a case that his actions uncovered the strife that had existed between the north and south for so many years, and pushed both sides to action.
The role of religion as always was interesting, everyone was motivated by the way they understood their religion. Southern Slaveholders justified their actions by interpretations in the Bible. John Brown, as he awaited execution refused to accept visits from southern ministers, the only people he refused to see. He held them responsible for condoning and justifying slavery and also acting as ministers for God. John Brown's Calvinism was the most instrumental object he had to not only abhor slavery, but to insist that Blacks were equal to whites. Many of Brown's supporters came from Boston and subscribed to Transcendentalism, which motivated them to support abolition.
The title comes from a speech that Frederick Douglass gave in Harpers Ferry in 1881, in which he said that, "The attack on Harper's Ferry was an awful price that had to be paid- "The answering back of the avenging angel to the midnight invasions of Christian slave-traders on the sleeping hamlets of Africa" Nothing less, said FRederick could force the nation to face it's great wrong. "Slavery had so benumbed the moral sense of the nation that it never suspected the possibility of an explosion."" (Midnight Rising p. 287).
I am excited to read Mr. Horowitz's "Confederates in the Attic". I enjoyed listening to his presentation for Rochester Reads on April 9th.(less)

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Feb 14, 2012 Owen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had seen snippets of Brown's life in random places during my life, I have seen signs while driving for Harper's Ferry, but in West Virginia, not Virginia, there is a farm where he purportedly lived near my family's vacation in northwestern PA, I have been to his 'homestead' in wayyyy upstate New York, and I had always heard that he fought the Kansas-Missouri free/slave state battles in Kansas. It turns out all of those things are true (West Virginia did not exist until the Civil War, Brown was...more

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Nov 13, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The author provides a thorough review of the events surrounding the Harpers Ferry raid. But more interesting, he reviews correspondence and testimony to learn who John Brown was, what he was trying to accomplish, and what events led up to his fateful night raid.
We learn about John Brown's early years and how he came to view slavery as the ultimate evil he was destined to fight. We learn about his family, and their devotion to their father. We learn about the fellows who fought at his side. Afte...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Grace rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found Tony Horowitz's book 'Midnight Rising' to be a very informative and interesting account of John Brown and his raid on Harper's Ferry as well as his attacks on pro-slavers in Kansas. The author was able to dig up some important primary sources and put them together in such a fashion that we are better able to understand what Brown was thinking and why he decided to follow the path that he did.

Mr. Horowitz points out that Brown's actions 'sparked the Civil War.' He explained that Brown's...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Margalo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

John Brown said in his last letter "the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood," and it is hard to see how slavery would have ended without the dreadful conflagration of the Civil War, which his actions may have hastened. This book was not as entertaining as "Confederates in the Attic," but it added to my knowledge of the intellectual climate and political power-structure in the country before the Civil War. In fact, I think I would have liked it better if the focus...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: civil-war, history

So what do you think of John Brown? Was he a martyr or a demon? Was he wise and battle-hardened or delusional and suicidal?

[Book: Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War] by [Author: Tony Horowitz] seeks to give a warts-and-all portrayal of the militant abolitionist. But in the end, his selection of quotes and choice of details places Brown firmly on the side of the angels. So modern Lost Cause readers are likely to be outraged - much as Southerners of Brown's era we...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, autobiographies-biographies-memoirs, down-south, history, non-fiction, true-crime, war

Really, I knew next to nothing about John Brown before I read this book. I decided to read it because I recently finished Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz, and that book sent me on a quest to learn about and understand the Civil War. I trusted Horwitz to educate me about John Brown--I knew this work would deliver, and it did. I now understand who John Brown was, why he was significant, and what made him tick. Horwitz made me think about this man...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Adebayo Oyagbola rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

A comprehensive account of John Brown's revolutionary career as a radical abolitionist in antebellum America. The book not only looks into John Brown's deeds but examines and analyses his reasoning and core beliefs. Before now all I knew was that John Brown attacked the Federal Armoury in Harpers Ferry and that he did so in aid of the slavery abolition cause. I had not paused to ask how or why such an attack would have an impact on the institution of slavery. This book connects all the dots. It...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Greg Metcalf rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to admit I remembered John Brown from history class so vaguely that I could never remember if he was an abolitionist or proslavery. I knew he made a rather blundering attack on Harpers Ferry. I had no idea he'd been planning the attack for years, or of the extent of his plan to free all the slaves. My other misconception was that the civil war was coming anyway. Easy to look back on history with that fixed mindset, I suppose, but the real lesson from this book is just how easy it is for p...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Helen Mccarthy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I learned a lot about the period just preceding the Civil War from this excellent book. While it is quite detailed, the author keeps it moving along well. He paints a clear picture of John Brown and what fires his acts as an abolitionist. The intense conflicts in the time buried deep in the issue of slavery are carefully drawn, and my understanding of this time period was greatly enhanced by this book. I did not realize what an important role Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry played in crystalisi...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

“"I, John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."
- John Brown 1859

On a misty Sunday night, in mid-October, 1859, a rag-tag group of men, made up of whites and blacks, seized the armory at Harper’s Ferry, with the intention of causing a major slave revolt. This band was led by a fiery abolitionist named John Brown. His mission failed but it helped spark the bloodiest war in American history.
This story covers Brown’s puritanical up...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Larry Rogers rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

We all know (don't we) that John Brown led eighteen men to seize the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia,on October 16, 1859. Most schoolkids see the Norman Rockwell painting of Brown en route to his execution in their US history textbook. Given the age in which we live—a time dominated by terrorists unafraid of death—Brown is kind of a prototype of what the world would become. Brown's aim was to use the federal weapons to arm runaway slaves and to create a provisional republic. Wit...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Evan Barrett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first straight popular history written by Tony Horwitz, author of Confederates in the Attic, and a very good one for me as I was coming in cold to John Brown's story. A book in 3 parts: an exceedingly short biography of John Brown leading up to his ill-fated but ultimately, years after his death, successful raid on Harpers Ferry (almost 60 years, and about 100 pages); a military history of his ragtag band's seizure, and the subsequent siege by local fighters and the U.S. army, of the armory...more The first straight popular history written by Tony Horwitz, author of Confederates in the Attic, and a very good one for me as I was coming in cold to John Brown's story. A book in 3 parts: an exceedingly short biography of John Brown leading up to his ill-fated but ultimately, years after his death, successful raid on Harpers Ferry (almost 60 years, and about 100 pages); a military history of his ragtag band's seizure, and the subsequent siege by local fighters and the U.S. army, of the armory (3 days, and about 100 pages); and an exceptional explanation of how Brown himself, and his contemporaries, made him a martyr, after which the North and South quickly drew lines in the sand that led to Civil War (6 weeks to a year, depending on where you interpret the line to be drawn, and again about 100 pages). After reading this book, I feel I must visit Harpers Ferry and the nearby battlefields of Gettysburg and Antietam/Sharpsburg as soon as I get the chance. Also, I'd like to visit the sites of some of his pre-Ferry exploits in Kansas and Missouri, which get somewhat short shrift here. As a bonus, I also found out that Brown and some of his recruits spent a winter two years before the raid in the now-defunct community of Springdale, near my hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, a few miles east of West Branch (through which my wife and I biked on RAGBRAI this past summer).

I'm not sure how I feel about John Brown on a personal level after this reading. He obviously knew his bible (at least the Old Testament) front to back, as in his letters he put himself in the roles of Gideon and Samson on a repeated basis. Although a formidable figure among abolitionists, he clearly had his faults in this world, as his Calvinist upbringing focused his sights on his future in the next. What cannot be refuted is that he achieved his goal of bringing our country face to face with its sins, for better or worse and whether or not you agree with his methods. I recommend this book if you don't know this story, or have forgotten how important it is to what our country ultimately became.

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Jan 03, 2012 Ash rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: public intellectuals, history nerds

Shelves: history

Oh Tony Horwitz!!! As an aspiring academic I always want to get up on a high horse about how this book isn't serious enough etc but... ultimately, I can't. You're too good!

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. I was impressed that Horwitz made the 300+ page account of abolitionists, failed military campaigns, and strange (to say the least)...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Dale rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A compelling look into one of America's (misunderstood?) icons

Published in October 2011 by Macmillan Audio
Read by Daniel Oreskes
Duration: 11 hours, 9 minutes

John Brown is one of those well-known yet elusive figures in history. He is literally in all of the American history books, but most people know almost nothing about him except for a few headline snippets like "Bleeding Kansas" and "Harper's Ferry" and "Slave Revolt." More knowledgeable readers may remember he used a sword to kill pro-slaver...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fic

Yes, most of us know that John Brown's body is a-mouldering the grave, and that he besieged the arsenal at Harper's Ferry and died for his abolitionist activism. But I, for one, knew little else about him until reading Midnight Rising. Tony Horwitz takes his readers through Brown's life, passing quickly through his early phases before concentrating on his life as a freedom fighter. John Brown was a truly extraordinary man. He told people that he didn't ever experience fear, and I believe that, b...more

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May 23, 2013 Ted Hunt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book, as advertised, provides a full account of the Harper's Ferry raid of 1859. It begins with a biography of John Brown, through his exploits in "Bleeding Kansas," moves through the planning for the Harper's Ferry operation, and then lays out the details of the raid, at times in a minute by minute fashion. Brown's capture, trial, and execution are also fully recounted. The book begins with the reference to a similar event in the 21st century: a religious fanatic with a long beard sends a n...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Ray rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Midnight Rising" makes the point that the John Brown raid on Harper's Ferry was much more significant in terms of national history than I'd ever considered. Before reading this book, I had thought of John Brown as being a religious extremist, half-mad with abolitionist fervor, famous more for the folly of his raid than for his importance in the anti-slavery movement. While Horwitz doesn't do much to change my mind about John Brown himself, he does add depth and breadth about the man and his bel...more

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About Tony Horwitz

Date of Birth: 1958

Tony Horwitz is an American journalist and writer. His works include Blue Latitudes, One for the Road, Confederates In The Attic and Baghdad Without A Map. His most recent work, published in April 2008, is A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World, a history and travelogue dealing with the early European exploration of North America.

More about Tony Horwitz...

Books by Tony Horwitz

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before

A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World

Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia

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