View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.
"[DeCaro] provide[s] a concise, sympathetic, and, on occasion,
dramatic and compelling account of Brown."
--"The Journal of American History"
"Readable and well-researched."
--"Journal of the West"
"The biography nicely integrates the moral imperative of the
Brown family, particularly the ideal of racial egalitarianism, with
increasing sectional tension. Engagingly written."
--"American Historical Review"
"In this biography, Louis A. DeCaro reveals the religious
integrity of a man whom others have seen as a criminal, a lunatic
or a study in contradictions."
--"Christian Century"
"""Fire from the Midst of You"" is the first major religious
biography of John Brown...should become a classic religious
biography...no future work on Brown can be complete without a
serious consideration of its many claims and insights."
--"Journal of the American Academy of Religion"
"DeCaro's challenging book depicts [John Brown] as a man ahead
of his time...From its title (a line from Ezekiel) to its last
line, "Fire From the Midst of You" brings to life an austere time
when America saw itself as a Christian nation and
fire-and-brimstone gospel shaped the populace."
--"Philadelphia Inquirer"
"Handsomely produced and fluently written, the book is based on
extensive research: a very worthwhile addition to the scholarship
relating to John Brown."
--"Journal of American Studies"
"A welcome addition to the literature of John Brown."
--"Publishers Weekly"
aDecaro sets out to establish Brownas legacy as one grounded in
an alternative evangelical tradition that decried pacifism,
developed a doctrine of holywar, and called any church that did not
actively work for abolition anti-Christian. He places Brown in his
religious milieu, reforming the legacy of this religious
extremist.a
--"Library Journal"
"DeCaro mines a wealth of information about Brown and the black
community, showing that Brown was a well known antislavery activist
and ally long before the Harper's Ferry raid of 1859."
--"Oakland Post"
John Brown is usually remembered as a terrorist whose unbridled
hatred of slavery drove him to the ill-fated raid on Harper's
Ferry, Virginia, in 1859. Tried and executed for seizing the
arsenal and attempting to spur a liberation movement among the
slaves, Brown was the ultimate "cause celebre" for a country on the
brink of civil war.
"Fire from the Midst of You" situates Brown within the religious
and social context of a nation steeped in racism, showing his roots
in Puritan abolitionism. DeCaro explores Brown's unusual family
heritage as well as his business and personal losses, retracing his
path to the Southern gallows. In contrast to the popular image of
Brown as a violent fanatic, DeCaro contextualizes Brown's actions,
emphasizing the intensely religious nature of the antebellum U.S.
in which he lived. He articulates the nature of Brown's radical
faith and shows that, when viewed in the context of his times, he
was not the religious fanatic that many have understood him to be.
DeCaro calls Brown a "Protestant saint"-an imperfect believer
seeking to realize his own perceived calling in divine
providence.
In line with the post-millennial theology of his day, Brown
understood God as working through mankind and the church to renew
and revive sinful humanity. He read theBible not only as God's
word, but as "God's word to John Brown," DeCaro traces Brown's life
and development to show how by forging faith as a radical weapon,
Brown forced the entire nation to a point of crisis.
"Fire from the Midst of You" defies the standard narrative with
a new reading of John Brown. Here is the man that the preeminent
Black scholar W.E.B. Du Bois called a "mighty warning" and the one
Malcolm X called "a real white liberal."
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