Our Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, and the Civil War Era

Oates provides an overview of the civil war comparable to many other texts but where he earns his five stars is on the two chapters on John Brown. This book was part of a mega-load of information I gathered for a thesis during my graduate studies. In the texts I gathered John Brown was either an immortal hero or a psychopathic murderer. Each author found Brown either right or wrong. Where Oates is an exception is that he examined past works on Brown, providing the arguments for good or bad and then gave the documented facts for the reader to come to their conclusions. Consequently, all former texts had flaws and omissions because authors chose a side of this controversial figure and wrote accordingly. Oates bounces from book to book filling in holes and striking what is myth and what is factless opinion. So far in my findings this is the best unbiased look at the life of John Brown. It should be read following a biography on Brown as Oates does not write a life story but rather sifts through the flaws of myths and heroism.