Seizing upon an opportunity to use some holiday gift money recently, I poked around Subterranean Books on Delmar Blvd and picked up a copy of Midnight Rising: John Brown and the raid that sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz. I bought the book because I had enjoyed one of Horwitz’ previous books about the Civil War, Confederates In The Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. If you have read Confederates in the Attic, don’t expect similar content. The narrative here is painted with a much finer brush, tuning in to well-researched minute details such as regular correspondence between Brown, family members, secret supporters, etc.

This book delves deeply into the life and surrounding circumstances of a compelling figure in early U.S. history. I love Horwitz’ ability to tell a story wisely, exposing details while not unnecessarily debasing the subjects. This story lays bare the startling state of the Union leading up to the Civil War, and John Brown figuratively trails gunpowder as he travels the agitated Republic. Ignited early in life by abolitionist views and his driven personality and beliefs, Brown acts upon his confrontational nature in Bleeding Kansas in the 1850s. Jumping at the chance to strike against the growing pro-slavery forces in Kansas, Brown leads his family and others on small raids on the frontier. The trail of ignited passion and confrontation seems to fizzle out at times, but Brown knew for years that his powder keg would explode at the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in Virginia. Indeed it did, and it consumed his followers and family members, singed his secret funders, and torched any opportunity for a nonviolent resolution to the “slavery question”.

Although the Civil War is the next chapter in the nation’s history, Horwitz’ writes his narrative in a way that doesn’t lean heavily on the looming future. I find it to his credit that he makes us see this time period with fresh eyes. I found myself thinking that the 1850′s were not necessarily an inevitable prelude to a blood-bath. The contention over the direction of the Union as states were added was a deep one for good reason. Large cultural, political, and economic matters were at stake. Federalist or anti-federalist, industrial or agrarian, Northern or Southern, most people felt that their way of life would be threatened by the addition of states which were not like their own. Anything could have happened, and that made people fearful and agitated. Reading this book I saw the complex nature of what was happening in those years, and I learned that many people were endeavoring to work through political, legal, religious, and popular channels to affect change.

But if John Brown saw the complex nature of what was at stake in his times, he surely didn’t figure it in when he considered how he must act. That is, he didn’t find the pressing matter of the times to be economics or politics or culture, and he didn’t think it would be solved by compromises or persuasion. The pressing matter was the detestable violation of human rights which had been tolerated for too many decades, and he’d sooner die than let it continue unchallenged. Brown’s methods were often ill-advised, but he was prepared to give up his life (and the lives of others) with stalwart honor in hopes of ending a systemic abuse against others. It’s the kind of thing that is not soon forgotten.