| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Louis A. DeCaro, Jr. "Fire from the Midst of You": A Religious Life of John Brown. New York: New York University Press. 2002. Pp. xiii, 349. $32.95.

Malcolm X famously commented that John Brown was one of the good white folks in history. In contrast to the depiction of Brown as a fanatic, Louis A. DeCaro, Jr.'s portrayal, like Malcolm's, is appreciative. The author develops several assumptions that help to put the subject in a fresh light. He appropriately focuses on the religious context and Brown's personal spirituality, issues that are central to the rationale for holy war against the evil of slavery. The biography nicely integrates the moral imperative of the Brown family, particularly the ideal of racial egalitarianism, with increasing sectional tension. The story unfolds around two crucial issues: the anomaly of Brown's militant abolitionism with his conservative theology, and the religious justification for the use of violence to free the slaves. In understanding historical causation, DeCaro argues that, for antebellum America and the modern civil rights struggle, the "fear of escalating violence is a far greater catalyst for change within an indifferent majority than 'moral suasion' or appeals to the conscience of a society" (p. 39). Brown and Malcolm X were then essential foils to the pacifism of William Lloyd Garrison and Martin Luther King, Jr., respectively. Brown represented the most dramatic example of "the higher law" doctrine during the Civil War era.

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