Book Reviews of 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.

Fascinating look at the life of John Brown, the abolitionist who thought slavery was an abomination and who thought he was God's instrument in trying to eliminate it from the country. The novel is narrated by his last surviving son, Owen Brown, who escaped from Harper's Ferry, and tells of the beginnings of the Brown clan in Ohio, Massachusetts, and North Elba, New York. The novel is long and detailed and really gives the reader the feel of living in the middle 19th century with its many hardships and struggles including the deaths of many of the Brown children. It includes details of Brown's anti-slavery beliefs, the Underground Railroad, and includes insights on historical personages such as Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It also includes the details of Brown's actions in "Bloody Kansas" and his eventual downfall at Harper's Ferry. The novel works at many levels: it is full of ideas, it is the story of an American family, and it is full of adventure. Although I think the novel could have been shortened somewhat - it is sometimes very wordy - I would still highly recommend this one to anyone interested in American history, the Civil War, and the fight for abolition of slavery.

I didn't know much about John Brown and this book brought him and his family to life for me.

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