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Commentary on
“John Brown: People Like Us”

J.W.M Morgan

In August of 2020, while reading about the highly flawed pre-Civil War presidencies of Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) and John Buchanan (1857-1861), I became intrigued by the events in Kansas in the 1850’s when the arguments for and against slavery were a focus of national attention. I discovered a wonderful abundance of historical sources.

I soon focused on the complex mystery of the abolitionist John Brown. Like most of us, I knew of John Brown only as an absurd caricature. Many historians have written that John Brown was unknowable, a mass of incomprehensible contradictions, even insane. I rejected these judgments. I felt I could do what historians said was impossible and made the inner life of John Brown the center of my novel-in-stories Dangerous John. (Read “John Brown: People Like Us.”)

The story of John Brown is a classic tale of American heroism and sacrifice, a story of grand ideals, high ambition, and great tragedy. It is a story of religious passion. It is also the story of a loving father who brought five of his sons with him into bloody and deadly battle.

Inhabiting the life and mind of the great abolitionist became a simultaneous exploring of my own hopes and fears for our country and for our humanity. I feel very modest among the great historical characters I am presuming to write about and I feel very privileged to live in a world in which we can benefit from what these visionaries of the past accomplished. We are heirs to a great culture. We must protect it.

Our world is often tragic. John Brown lived in hope for bettering human life. In this, he set an example I find essential.

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J.W.M. Morgan is writing a novel-in-stories called Dangerous John, The Immoderate Hopes of a Radical Heart about the inspiration of the United States religious mystic slavery abolitionist John Brown. Stories from the collection have appeared in Valparaiso Fiction Review, The Courtship of Winds, AvantAppal(achia), Unlikley Stories Mark V, Isele Magazine, and About Place Journal. He lives in Oakland, California.

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