?In Against the Gallows, Paul Christian Jones explores the intriguing cooperation of America’s writers—including major figures such as Walt Whitman, John Greenleaf Whittier, E. D. E. N. Southworth, an
By the time that Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, the list of crimes liable to attract the death penalty had effectively been reduced to murder. Yet, despite this, the gallows remained a so
This is the strange, haunting story of two ill-starred lovers, set against the backdrop of the religious upheaval of Henry VIII's time. Hazel, a peasant girl marked by the witches' brand and a dangero
Drawing on both new and neglected evidence, this book reconstructs Old John Brown's aborted 'war' to free the 3.8 million slaves in the American South before the Civil War. It critiques misleading sources that either exalt Brown's 'heroism' and noble purpose or condemn his 'monomania' and 'lawlessness'. McGlone explains the sources of his obsession with slavery and his notorious crime at Pottawatomie Creek in 'Bleeding Kansas' as well as how the Harpers Ferry raid figured into Brown's larger vision and why he was captured in the federal armory there. John Brown's War against Slavery chronicles how this American apostle of violence on behalf of the 'downtrodden', this abolitionist 'fanatic' and 'terroriser', ultimately rescued his cause by going to the gallows with resolution and outward calm. By embracing martyrdom, John Brown helped to spread panic in the South and persuaded northern sympathizers that failure can be noble and political violence 'righteous'.
By the time John Brown hung from the gallows for his crimes at Harper’s Ferry, Northern abolitionists had made him a ?holy martyr” in their campaign against Southern slave owners. This Northern hatred
