America's Good Terrorist: John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid

"America’s Good Terrorist is both captivating and rewarding?and a meticulous narrative of Harpers Ferry. It is excellent as history and quite appealing as biography." ? HistoryNet John Brown is a common name, but the John Brown who masterminded the failed raid at Harpers Ferry was anything but common. His failed efforts have left an imprint upon our history, and his story still swirls in controversy. Was he a madman who felt his violent solution to slavery was ordained by Providence or a heroic freedom fighter who tried to liberate the downtrodden slave These polar opposite characterizations of the violent abolitionist have captivated Americans. The prevailing view from the time of the raid to well into the twentieth century—that his actions were the product of an unbalanced mind—has shifted to the idea that he committed courageous acts to undo a terrible injustice. The debate still rages, but not as much about his ultimate goal as the method he used in attempting to right what he considered an intolerable wrong. Are citizens justified in bypassing the normal legal or governmental processes in a violent way when they fail, in the eyes of the dissenter, to correct a wrong that touched so many Brown’s use of violence was to strike terror in the heart of slave owners, terror that Brown hoped would intimidate them to free their slaves to ensure their families’ safety.