Search - Cloudsplitter

John Brown thought chattel slavery an abomination and saw himself the instrument of God in extirpating it from our country. On October 16, 1859, he led seventeen men in the take over of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia. This novel is narrated by Browns son Owen, who survived the raid and escaped being hanged with the other raiders. Owens narration of the Family Browns life and times up to Harpers Ferry is fascinating. It is a long novel, but it works as a family saga, adventure story, and novel of ideas. I highly recommend this best-seller of the late 1990s.

Incredible. This should have gotten the recognition Cold Mountain got.

SYNOPSIS
From a hermit's shack on an isolated California mountaintop, Owen Brown, the only surviving son of abolitionist John Brown, reminisces over his role in his father's bloody crusade -- from maintaining the Underground Railroad in upstate New York to battling proslavery settlers in Kansas to the fateful raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Massive in scope and brimming with love, hatred, revenge, and unbridled ego, Cloudsplitter is a dazzling re-creation of the political and social landscape of America in the years before the Civil War.

Quaker abolishionist who takes matters into his own hands to end slavery.