Revisits the nineteenth century abolitionist movement as the embodiment of a driving force in American history, giving a better understanding of the balance between moral fervor and political responsibility.
The abolitionists of the mid-nineteenth century have long been painted in extremes--vilified as reckless zealots who provoked the catastrophic bloodletting of the Civil War, or praised as daring and courageous reformers who hastened the end of slavery. But Andrew Delbanco sees abolitionists in a different light, as the embodiment of a driving force in American history: the recurrent impulse of an adamant minority to rid the world of outrageous evil.
Delbanco imparts to the reader a sense of what it meant to be a thoughtful citizen in nineteenth-century America, appalled by slavery yet aware of the fragility of the republic and the high cost of radical action. In this light, we can better understand why the fiery vision of the "abolitionist imagination" alarmed such contemporary witnesses as Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne even as they sympathized with the cause. The story of the abolitionists thus becomes both a stirring tale of moral fervor and a cautionary tale of ideological certitude. And it raises the question of when the demand for purifying action is cogent and honorable, and when it is fanatic and irresponsible.
Delbanco's work is placed in conversation with responses from literary scholars and historians. These provocative essays bring the past into urgent dialogue with the present, dissecting the power and legacies of a determined movement to bring America's reality into conformity with American ideals.
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A brilliant, risky, provocative account of the changing historical reputation of abolitionists in America. Delbanco offers a timely take on just why this prototypical American reform movement never goes away as a template, as a useable past, as a story that can be appropriated by all ends of the political spectrum. -- David Blight, author of American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era With his characteristic eloquence, Andrew Delbanco provides an interpretation of abolitionism, in history and literature, which challenges the received wisdom--and his four critics are up to the challenge. This splendid book demonstrates that the most successful radical movement in American history still retains its power to provoke and enlighten. -- Michael Kazin, author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation The lucidity of the prose and the relevance of the topic to today's cultural divides may attract broader audiences. -- Brendan Driscoll * Booklist *
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Nominated for Avery O. Craven Award 2013 and James A. Rawley Prize 2013 and OAH Liberty Legacy Foundation Award 2013.A brilliant, risky, provocative account of the changing historical reputation of abolitionists in America. Delbanco offers a timely take on just why this prototypical American reform movement never goes away as a template, as a useable past, as a story that can be appropriated by all ends of the political spectrum. -- David Blight, author of American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era With his characteristic eloquence, Andrew Delbanco provides an interpretation of abolitionism, in history and literature, which challenges the received wisdom--and his four critics are up to the challenge. This splendid book demonstrates that the most successful radical movement in American history still retains its power to provoke and enlighten. -- Michael Kazin, author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation
| Foreword |
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vii | |
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1 The Abolitionist Imagination |
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1 | (56) |
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2 Fighting The Devil With His Own Fire |
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57 | (24) |
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3 Did The Abolitionists Cause The Civil War? |
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81 | (28) |
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4 The Invisibility Of Black Abolitionists |
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109 | (26) |
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5 Abolition As Master Concept |
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135 | (18) |
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6 The Presence Of The Past |
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153 | (12) |
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| Notes |
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165 | (30) |
| About the Authors |
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195 | (2) |
| Index |
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197 | |
Andrew Delbanco is the Mendelson Family Chair of American Studies and Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. Daniel Carpenter is Allie S. Freed Professor of Government at Harvard University and author of the prizewinning books Reputation and Power and The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy. At Harvard, he has led the creation of the Digital Archive of Antislavery and Anti-Segregation Petitions and the Digital Archive of Native American Petitions. John Stauffer is Professor of English, of American Studies, and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University. He is the author of Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Manisha Sinha is Associate Professor of History and Afro-American Studies at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
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