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Outstanding
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San Francisco Chronicle Chuck Leddy
David Reynolds ("Walt Whitman's America") is clearly pro-Brown, and he's written a rich, nuanced and exhaustively researched "life and times" that positions the abolitionist firmly in the context of 19th century American culture.
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Outstanding
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Booklist Jay Freeman
A very readable, well-argued analysis of an undeniably important and frustratingly enigmatic man. [1 Feb 2005, p.935]
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
Engrossing and timely, offering astute, thorough coverage of America's premier iconoclast and the cultural stage upon which he played his role.
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Favorable
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Library Journal Randall M. Miller
If Reynolds misses a chance to add African-American folkloristic traditions to the trail of the Brown legend and sometimes claims too much for his subject's impact on ideas and events, he gets hold of him in ways that show why John Brown will never die in memory. [15 Feb 2005, p.140]
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Favorable
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Washington Post David W. Blight
A splendid if overwrought book.
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Favorable
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New York Review Of Books James M. McPherson
Stimulating biography.
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Favorable
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The New Republic Sean Wilentz
Atimulating and argumentative.
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Favorable
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The Nation Martin Duberman
The book's first hundred pages are slow going indeed; as one plows through them, an impression may take root that Reynolds has limited stylistic flair and less narrative drive. But the impression is wrong, and I urge the reader to persevere; the bulk of the book proves to be absorbing, well written and beautifully documented.
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Favorable
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The New Yorker Adam Gopnik
Reynolds's book isn't beautifully written, and his defense of Brown can be uncomfortably apologetic, but almost every page forces you to think hard, and in new ways, about American violence, American history, and what used to be called the American character.
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Favorable
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Atlantic Monthly Christopher Hitchens
The critical thing here is context. And the author succeeds admirably in showing that Brown, far from being a crazed fanatic, was a serious legatee of the English and American revolutions who anticipated the Emancipation Proclamation and all that has ensued from it.
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Favorable
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Boston Globe Michael Kenney
In what could be called an advocacy biography, David S. Reynolds explores the intersection of conviction and deed in the life of John Brown.
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Favorable
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Chicago Tribune Scott Casper
In his masterful book John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights, cultural historian David S. Reynolds eschews psychological labels in favor of answers rooted in Brown's 19th Century context. [8 May 2005]
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Favorable
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Houston Chronicle Lynwood Abram
Reynolds' account of Brown and his turbulent times is a deep and steady look at an era that, in some respects, resembles our own.
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Mixed
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Los Angeles Times Eric Foner
Most books on John Brown are strongly partisan, and this one is no exception. Reynolds' account brims with passion and conviction. However, beginning with his rather hyperbolic subtitle, "The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights," he tends to exaggerate Brown's uniqueness and influence. [1 May 2005, p.R4]
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Mixed
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The New York Times Book Review Barbara Ehrenreich
There are times when Reynolds goes almost as far as the Transcendentalists in beatifying Brown.
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Mixed
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New York Observer Ann Fabian
A reader might be excused for wondering if Mr. Reynolds wasn't worn out by Brown's contradictions as he came to conclude his long book. [6 June 2005]
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Mixed
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Publishers Weekly
Reynolds's approach harks back to the hero-worship apparent in earlier books by W.E.B. Du Bois and Brown's surviving associates.
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Unfavorable
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Wall Street Journal Lauren Weiner
Does "John Brown, Abolitionist" add much to the major Brown biographies by Villard, Stephen B. Oates (1970) and Richard C. Boyer (1972)? Not really. The book is flabby with repetitions, frustrating loose ends and even entire passages that appear to have been recycled by mistake.
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