The book is about John Brown an abolitionist who fought to end slavery in the mid-1800s. The story begins by tracing Brown's early life. Brown was born into a deeply religious family. His father who was a strict Calvinist raised Brown to hate slavery. The story mainly focuses on 1858 to 1865 period. Slavery is the main topic in this book. ”Author Tony Horwitz tells the story of John Brown's raid on a federal armory in Harpers Ferry to end slavery that started in the Kansas territory and ended when Brown was captured by U.S. Marines under the command of Robert E. Lee”. The author wrote this book to inform us on how the civil war came about and Brown's exploits to abolish slavery by acts of violence against proslavery settlers in Kansas.
John Brown is a man who generates a lot of passion. He is one of the most divisive figures in our history. Even though people depict John Brown as lunatic and insane he was a freedom fighter. Brown was raised into a deeply religious family and saw slavery as a sin of the nation. After witnessing slave women beaten to death by iron shovel at a young age and the death of Elijah Lovejoy by proslavery mob John Brown stood up and bowed to fight and end slavery. He believed he was appointed by god to end
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He believed nonviolent approach was weak and ineffectual and slavery was state of war and had to be met in kind. In the book Brown feels this conviction that Americas founding destiny of equality and freedom can only be fulfilled through the destruction of slavery and he would not be deterred