The Legend of John Brown: A Biography and a History, and: The Old Man: John Brown at Harper's Ferry, and: Blacks on John Brown, and: John Brown (review)

BOOK REVIEWS159 An Epilogue of less than two pages makes the point that racial tension today is an unresolved issue of the Civil War. Hence the title of the book. The American War and Peace is also a brief account of men and measures. It is well written, informal, and pungent. The title of the book suggests its theme, that the story of the Civil War is to America what Tolstoy's epic is to Russia. The author agrees with the author of the preceding volume on Davis' inability to lead his people as effectively as Lincoln led the Northern people, but he gives Davis just credit for being an innovative and creative war president. In a statement the first part of which doubtless will cause a great many eyebrows to lift, this writer says: "In sum Davis probably did more politically creative things than Lincoln. Yet the Confederate President deserves the back seat he usually takes to Lincoln in the North and Robert E. Lee in the South. Davis' problem was people" (p. 128). Unfortunately, the book is marred by a number of minor errors in both text and bibliography. More serious, the author at times sacrifices historical accuracy and judicious reflection in favor of whimsy and the neat phrase. Perhaps the supreme example of this tendency is his statement : "[General] Bragg almost won the battle of [Murfreesboro], then realized what he was doing and withdrew" (p. 104). Unquestionably, Bragg was given to indecision at the climax of battle. But the implication of the line quoted here is that he was either a clown or an idiot. He was neither. Inadequate to army command as he may have been, he still was an officer of high intelligence and dedication. Moreover, his decision to withdraw at Murfreesboro was not utterly indefensible. He was fighting against superior numbers; his antagonist had reinforcements on the way from Nashville; and the ranking Confederate corps commanders, Polk and Hardee, both were advising disengagement . Bragg deserves criticism, but not sarcasm. These studies present useful summaries of information and syntheses of interpretations on the war, its causes, and its effects. But neither individually nor collectively do they replace the classic work on these events: Randall and Donald, The Civil War and Reconstruction. Charles P. Roland University of Kentucky The Legend of John Brown: A Biography and a History. By Richard O. Boyer. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. Pp. xix, 627. $12.50.) The Old Man: John Brown at Harper's Ferry. By Truman Nelson. ( New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1973, Pp. 304. $8.95.) Bhcks on John Brown. Edited by Benjamin Quarles. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972. Pp. ix, 164. $6.95. ) 160CIVIL war history John Brotan. Edited by Richard Warch and Jonathan Fanton. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Pp. iii, 184.) Our times perhaps demand a return to the study of men such as John Brown who, though severely flawed in many ways, stands a severe, resolute and angry historical figure. Americans have always been intrigued by the outsiders, renegades who lived beyond the pale of the ordinary, personalities who eschewed order and instead railed against institutions and threw themselves mentally and physically in opposition to the arbiters of society. The consuming charm of such people has little to do with the success or failure of their exploits, nor does it have much to do with matters of right and wrong. Within them is the stuff of novels realized. Originals are hard to come by in an essentially democratic society which by its nature compels and rewards an amalgam of attitudes satisfactory to a majority. But for men like Brown accepted reason becomes unreasonable and so controversy fits them like an un· tailored coat of superior fabric. They are uncomfortable reminders that if anything is too important to be left to the ordinary processes of government , then the human condition is it. There has been the creation of a kind of John Brown era with the publication of three biographies in the past four years and a fourth volume by Richard Boyer already in press. The present book by Boyer is virtually a complete story in itself, and regardless of the quality...