Old Man, The: John Brown at Harper's Ferry

The details of the raid and its aftermath have never been presented with such cinematic immediacy as in Truman Nelson's The Old Man.  In addition, Nelson explodes the conventional dismissal of John Brown as a fanatic, and presents him as America's greatest revolutionary, the organizer of a brilliant coup which succeeded, given a year or so, in beginning what it set out to do--to overthrow and dismember proslavery control of the United States government.  Nelson captures the human pathos and high drama of the event, with its fascinating range of characters, both famous and forgotten, while helping the reader to understand its moral and political significance.