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John Brown: The Making of a Martyr
Warren's first book, a biography that foreshadows the themes developed in novels like All the King's Men , portrays the flawed idealist whose violent seizure of the Harper's Ferry arsenal led to the greater violence of the Civil War. Southern Classics Series.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
510 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1929
69 people want to read
About the author
Robert Penn Warren
342 books997 followersRobert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935. He received the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for All the King's Men (1946) and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 2, 2024
I chose to read this book for two reasons. First, since I really appreciate the writing style of Robert Penn Warren, I have plans to read every book ever he ever wrote, and this book was his first. Second, even after having lived in Kansas my entire life and hearing about John Brown throughout my lifetime (mostly with the label as a hero abolitionist), I realized my knowledge regarding the man was limited to a few minor facts and general opinions.
Whenever I read biographies, especially biographies over a person as plagued in controversy as John Brown, I generally try to select biographies considered to be or at least intended to be unbiased. Although, per the foreward, this was the intention of the author for this particular John Brown biography, a general disapproval of John Brown’s behavior was clear to me. Perhaps in the case of John Brown, however, this general approval allowed for a more complete biography compared to biographies portraying the man as a hero abolitionist.
After reading the book, my opinion of John Brown is that he was perhaps not a evil man, but was not likely a Christian man (or if he was a Christian, he was not a Christian as close to God as he would have believed).
My opinion is that the massacre at Pottawattamie where innocent men with opposing points of view were executed at point blank range under the direct orders and supervision of John Brown changed the course for the man, and such a man who commits such an action without any remorse or regret (no evidence has been provided where he expresses either as far as I am aware) cannot be considered a “good man” even with the noble pretext of abolishing slavery.
I do, however, admire his persistence and determination. Failure after failure in both business and his noble cause did not deter him from his ultimate vision.
I also have to respect his plan for his final mission in which he was ultimately captured and subsequently hanged. The entire mission depended on support from nearby slaves under the assumption that the slaves would recognize their opportunity for freedom and immediately join the abolitionist cause, and although we can never know for sure, I believe he would have been able to escape southward past the Marines and militiamen if he would have been able to gather perhaps even half the expected number of slaves to fight. But he didn’t, so we will never know.
Whenever I read biographies, especially biographies over a person as plagued in controversy as John Brown, I generally try to select biographies considered to be or at least intended to be unbiased. Although, per the foreward, this was the intention of the author for this particular John Brown biography, a general disapproval of John Brown’s behavior was clear to me. Perhaps in the case of John Brown, however, this general approval allowed for a more complete biography compared to biographies portraying the man as a hero abolitionist.
After reading the book, my opinion of John Brown is that he was perhaps not a evil man, but was not likely a Christian man (or if he was a Christian, he was not a Christian as close to God as he would have believed).
My opinion is that the massacre at Pottawattamie where innocent men with opposing points of view were executed at point blank range under the direct orders and supervision of John Brown changed the course for the man, and such a man who commits such an action without any remorse or regret (no evidence has been provided where he expresses either as far as I am aware) cannot be considered a “good man” even with the noble pretext of abolishing slavery.
I do, however, admire his persistence and determination. Failure after failure in both business and his noble cause did not deter him from his ultimate vision.
I also have to respect his plan for his final mission in which he was ultimately captured and subsequently hanged. The entire mission depended on support from nearby slaves under the assumption that the slaves would recognize their opportunity for freedom and immediately join the abolitionist cause, and although we can never know for sure, I believe he would have been able to escape southward past the Marines and militiamen if he would have been able to gather perhaps even half the expected number of slaves to fight. But he didn’t, so we will never know.
Displaying 1 of 1 review