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Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War Audiobook
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A New York Times Notable Book for 2011 A Library Journal Top Ten Best Books of 2011 A Boston Globe Best Nonfiction Book of 2011 Bestselling author Tony Horwitz tells the electrifying tale of the daring insurrection that put America on the path to bloody war Plotted in secret, launched in the dark, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was a pivotal moment in U.S. history. But few Americans know the true story of the men and women who launched a desperate strike at the slaveholding South. Now, Midnight Rising portrays Brown's uprising in vivid color, revealing a country on the brink of explosive conflict. Brown, the descendant of New England Puritans, saw slavery as a sin against America's founding principles. Unlike most abolitionists, he was willing to take up arms, and in 1859 he prepared for battle at a hideout in Maryland, joined by his teenage daughter, three of his sons, and a guerrilla band that included former slaves and a dashing spy. On October 17, the raiders seized Harpers Ferry, stunning the nation and prompting a counterattack led by Robert E. Lee. After Brown's capture, his defiant eloquence galvanized the North and appalled the South, which considered Brown a terrorist. The raid also helped elect Abraham Lincoln, who later began to fulfill Brown's dream with the Emancipation Proclamation, a measure he called "a John Brown raid, on a gigantic scale." Tony Horwitz's riveting book travels antebellum America to deliver both a taut historical drama and a telling portrait of a nation divided—a time that still resonates in ours.
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"I always enjoy reading Tony's books. He makes history come alive. The pictures and maps are integrated into the text at just the right points. I found it quite interesting that John Brown thought being in a depression was a superior tactical position to being on high ground. Pretty stupid. But it was obvious that Brown's success was in his defeat."
— Chris (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“A hard-driving narrative of one of America's most troubling figures… Horwitz describes the disaster in riveting terms… It's impossible to read this fine book without thinking about modern-day Browns.
— Kevin Boyle, The New York Times Book Review (a New York Times Notable Book, 2011) -
Horwitz's skills are a good match for this enormously compelling character, and his well-paced narrative incorporates masterful sketches of Brown's family, foot soldiers, financial backers, admirers and prosecutors… The result is both page-turning and heartbreaking--a book to engage mind and soul.
— The Boston Globe -
Horwitz, an exceptionally skilled and accomplished journalist, here turns his hand to pure history with admirable results. Midnight Rising is smoothly written, thoroughly researched, places Brown within the context of his time and place, and treats him sensitively but scarcely adoringly.
— The Washington Post(Best of 2011, Notable Work of Nonfiction) -
Midnight Rising is a richly detailed and engaging history… Horwitz's moment-by-moment account of the doomed raid unfolds with such immediacy that he reintroduces suspense to a story we all know from textbooks.
— The San Francisco Chronicle -
Horwitz describes guerrilla action and the run-up to war with a deadline writer's immediacy… A brilliant researcher, he integrates diverse sources into a cogent adventure.
— The Washington Times -
What do you call John Brown? Is he a terrorist or a freedom fighter? ... Tony Horwitz settles upon the word insurgent -- and the label seems just right, as does Horwitz's book as a whole…
— Seattle Times -
In captivating detail, Horwitz animates the wild-eyed, long-bearded crusader . . . Make no mistake, the infamous October 1859 raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry by John Brown and his 18 men was the stone that began the avalanche that became the Civil Wars.
— The Cleveland Plain Dealer -
A brave and highly successful attempt to revive the legend of Brown's martyrdom for the 21st century reader…. Horwitz's vivid writing style… makes for a superb historical narrative.
— Buffalo News -
A beautifully crafted, richly detailed, and riveting narrative of a pivotal episode in American history . . . Midnight Rising is at its best reconstructing the lives (and deaths) of the relatively anonymous conspirators – especially the African-Americans.
— The Florida Courier -
Horwitz's potent prose delivers the facts of this bellwether incident in riveting fashion… It is an absorbing portrait of the often frustrated but passionately driven firebrand who successfully convinced a country of the shame of slavery and, to the South's great regret, earned martyr status in the aftermath of his execution. Brown qualifies as America's first important post-revolution terrorist...
— Bookpage -
Horwitz's description of the little band of idealists and adventurers who signed on for Brown's offensive – including five black men and two of Brown's own sons – is both fascinating and touching. His careful recreation of the bloody events of October 16, 1859, the day of Brown's disastrous raid on Harpers Ferry, is both suspenseful and heartwrenching.
— Christian Science Monitor (one of the 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2011) -
In Midnight Rising, [Horwitz] not only gives us an action-packed adventure story, but also provides detailed historical background and vivid character portraits of the principals involved… Assiduously researched using archival sources, Horwitz's riveting tale is on sound factual footing. And he does a wonderful job of bringing to life the fascinating, messianic leader who, on the way to the gallows, would incite a nation toward civil war.
— St. Petersburg Times -
Compelling reading.
— Wichita Eagle -
The lively narrative focuses on the 1859 attack on an armory in Harpers Ferry, W.Va, by Brown and his ragtag followers -- the event credited with lighting the fuse on the deadliest conflict in U.S. history.
— San Jose Mercury News -
A groundbreaking study of the Harper's Ferry raid that makes a number of fascinating points: Brown was not a madman or a fanatic, he knew his death would serve as a moral lightning rod, and the fallout from his actions has echoed for generations.
— Oregonian -
Superb and amply researched… [Horwitz] renders with empathy and insight the lives of the individuals Brown touched, whether they were family members, victims, or the idealistic raiders who followed him to Harpers Ferry… Brown's raiders thus appear more human, poignant, and fallible and the whole venture more noble, futile, benighted, heroic, and sadder than heretofore.
— American Scholar -
Gripping, disturbing and heartbreaking... Horwitz brings all his gifts of character building and storytelling to Brown's rise and self-promotion… Horwitz's Brown did not die in vain. By recalling the drama that fired the imagination and fears of Brown's time, Midnight Rising calls readers to account for complacency about social injustices today.
— Library Journal (a Top Ten Book of the Year, 2011) -
Lucid and compelling… The author's archival sleuthing pays off with a rich narrative.
— Kirkus Reviews -
[Horwitz's] vivid biographical portrait of Brown gives us an American original: a failed businessman and harsh Calvinist with a soft spot for the oppressed and a murderous animus against oppressors… Brown's raiders--a motley crew of his sons and various idealists, adventurers, freedmen, and fugitive slaves--come alive as a romantic, appealing bunch; their agonizing deaths give Horwitz's excellent narrative of the raid and shootout a deep pathos.
— Publishers Weekly -
There's a brilliance to this book that put me in mind of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, only Horwitz's Midnight Rising is set deeper in America's dark past. With stunning, vivid detail, he has captured the sheer drama and tragedy of John Brown and that bloody raid at Harpers Ferry that helped propel America toward civil war.
— Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and In the Garden of Beasts -
Tony Horwitz's gifts as a vivid narrator of dramatic events are on full display in this story of John Brown's wars in Kansas and his climactic Harpers Ferry raid in 1859. Brown's family and the men who joined him in these fights against slavery receive a more fully rounded treatment than in any other account. Of special note is the discussion of Brown's self-conscious emulation of Samson by pulling down the temple of bondage and dying a martyr in its ruins.
— James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom -
Midnight Rising is a deeply compelling work, richly researched and elegantly written. The events surrounding the raid on Harpers Ferry--and the complex character of John Brown himself--come vividly to life in Tony Horwitz's irresistibly readable account.
— Annette Gordon-Reed, author of The Hemingses of Monticello -
With his customary blend of rich archival research, on-location color, and lyrical prose, Tony Horwitz has delivered a John Brown book for our time. Part biography, part historical narrative, Midnight Rising is a riveting re-creation of the Harpers Ferry raid, told with an unblinking sense of Brown's tragic place in American history. Writing with enveloping detail and a storyteller's verve, Horwitz shows why Brown was--and still is--so troubling and important to our culture.
— David W. Blight, author of American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era -
Tony Horwitz knows how to tell a story, and here his considerable gifts as a writer bring John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry alive in a style that is just as electric as its subject.
— Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers and First Family -
Beautifully written and sparkling with fresh insights, Midnight Rising resurrects the multiple faces of John Brown: avenging angel or murderous terrorist; slavery's nemesis or deluded fanatic; abolitionist hero or subversive insurrectionist. In this thrilling, magnificent and essential book, Tony Horwitz shows how one man and a single event set the nation on a doomed course where the crimes of a guilty land could only be purged by blood.
— James L. Swanson, author of Manhunt and Bloody Crimes
Awards
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One of the 2011 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Nonfiction
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Among longlisted titles for Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2011
Midnight Rising Listener Reviews
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" Mr. Horowitz's books are always good reads and this is no exception! "
— Tomraabe, 2/12/2014 -
" Mr. Horowitz's books are always good reads and this is no exception! "
— Tomraabe, 2/12/2014 -
" John Brown was the instigator of the Civil War and an idealist ahead of his time in terms of race relations. He was also a religious fanatic and militia extremist. A combination that could only be found in America. Horwitz provides an interesting biography of Brown detailing his life before Harper's Ferry. From New England to bleeding Kansas and then to Harper's Ferry, Horwitz often overwhelms the reader with detail but keeps a quick pace. The true value of the book is in the post-Harper Ferry analysis in which Brown's actions and influence are assessed and placed in the context of the times. "
— H, 2/4/2014 -
" John Brown was the instigator of the Civil War and an idealist ahead of his time in terms of race relations. He was also a religious fanatic and militia extremist. A combination that could only be found in America. Horwitz provides an interesting biography of Brown detailing his life before Harper's Ferry. From New England to bleeding Kansas and then to Harper's Ferry, Horwitz often overwhelms the reader with detail but keeps a quick pace. The true value of the book is in the post-Harper Ferry analysis in which Brown's actions and influence are assessed and placed in the context of the times. "
— H, 2/4/2014 -
" Very well written chronicle of John Brown, the man and his raid. The way Horwitz tells it the ill accomplished raid started the Civil War, and John Brown the man compares favorably to Lincoln. The raid itself was hard for me to read because I'm not interested in the details of battle. But the telling of the before and after is quite compelling. "
— Mary, 1/20/2014 -
" Very well written chronicle of John Brown, the man and his raid. The way Horwitz tells it the ill accomplished raid started the Civil War, and John Brown the man compares favorably to Lincoln. The raid itself was hard for me to read because I'm not interested in the details of battle. But the telling of the before and after is quite compelling. "
— Mary, 1/20/2014 -
" I always enjoy reading Tony's books. He makes history come alive. The pictures and maps are integrated into the text at just the right points. I found it quite interesting that John Brown thought being in a depression was a superior tactical position to being on high ground. Pretty stupid. But it was obvious that Brown's success was in his defeat. "
— Chris, 1/18/2014 -
" Tony Horwitz is brilliant. "
— Susan, 1/3/2014 -
" Tony Horwitz is brilliant. "
— Susan, 1/3/2014 -
" Well written, gives a detailed look into the motivation for the raid, the preparation and the raid itself. "
— Chelle, 12/28/2013 -
" An interesting read about John Brown, the abolitionist martyr whose ill-fated siege of Harper's Ferry sparked the American Civil War. "
— Roxanne, 12/28/2013 -
" An interesting read about John Brown, the abolitionist martyr whose ill-fated siege of Harper's Ferry sparked the American Civil War. "
— Roxanne, 12/28/2013 -
" Well written, gives a detailed look into the motivation for the raid, the preparation and the raid itself. "
— Chelle, 12/28/2013 -
" This is an excellent book. I learned so much from it. "
— Susan, 12/9/2013 -
" This is an excellent book. I learned so much from it. "
— Susan, 12/9/2013 -
" John Brown's body may lie a-mouldering in the grave, and I'm going to throw this book in there with him. "
— Shawn, 12/4/2013 -
" John Brown's body may lie a-mouldering in the grave, and I'm going to throw this book in there with him. "
— Shawn, 12/4/2013 -
" really enjoyed reading this. I learned so much about John Brown and Harpers Ferry and the start of the civil war. well written, read really quickly. Highly recommend it. Thoroughly and Balanced research. "
— Liza, 11/2/2013 -
" really enjoyed reading this. I learned so much about John Brown and Harpers Ferry and the start of the civil war. well written, read really quickly. Highly recommend it. Thoroughly and Balanced research. "
— Liza, 11/2/2013 -
" Fantastic telling of an event in history that I knew little about. Mr. Horwitz really makes the people, places, and circumstances come to life. "
— Glynn, 10/31/2013 -
" Fantastic telling of an event in history that I knew little about. Mr. Horwitz really makes the people, places, and circumstances come to life. "
— Glynn, 10/31/2013 -
" There have been so many books written on this subject that did such a better job. Way to ride that Civil War schtick Mr. Horwitz. "
— Lewis, 9/6/2013 -
" There have been so many books written on this subject that did such a better job. Way to ride that Civil War schtick Mr. Horwitz. "
— Lewis, 9/6/2013 -
" The history was interesting, but the presentation was nothing special. "
— Jbsfaculty, 8/29/2013 -
" The history was interesting, but the presentation was nothing special. "
— Jbsfaculty, 8/29/2013 -
" Big fan of everything he's done since Confederates in the Attic. The mix of humor, deep reporting on history, and narrative (part biographical, part travelogue) in most of his books really appeals to me. The John Brown book is a great read about a deeply strange character from the past. "
— Mark, 12/5/2012 -
" Big fan of everything he's done since Confederates in the Attic. The mix of humor, deep reporting on history, and narrative (part biographical, part travelogue) in most of his books really appeals to me. The John Brown book is a great read about a deeply strange character from the past. "
— Mark, 12/5/2012 -
" I thought that I was pretty well versed in John Brown and his raid on Harper's Ferry......I was wrong. Fascinating detailed account of the raid and all that it brought on. Wonderful read! "
— Greg, 5/16/2012 -
" I thought that I was pretty well versed in John Brown and his raid on Harper's Ferry......I was wrong. Fascinating detailed account of the raid and all that it brought on. Wonderful read! "
— Greg, 5/16/2012 -
" Extremely well-written history of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. Fascinating insight into Brown's psyche and his unyielding dedication to his cause. "
— Elizabeth, 1/21/2012 -
" Extremely well-written history of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. Fascinating insight into Brown's psyche and his unyielding dedication to his cause. "
— Elizabeth, 1/21/2012 -
" Tony Horwitz has a gift for taking his reader back in time and into the moment of history. This book is engaging, informative, thought-provoking, and a must-read for all history buffs. "
— Francesca, 10/29/2011 -
" Tony Horwitz has a gift for taking his reader back in time and into the moment of history. This book is engaging, informative, thought-provoking, and a must-read for all history buffs. "
— Francesca, 10/29/2011 -
" Very engaging--this is history at its most interesting. You can always count on Tony Horwitz to make his topic compelling. "
— Christina, 10/18/2011 -
" Very engaging--this is history at its most interesting. You can always count on Tony Horwitz to make his topic compelling. "
— Christina, 10/18/2011 -
" this one is now on the top of my stack. Great review in Sunday's "Washington Post." <br/> <br/>Great book well writen "
— Tom, 3/28/2011 -
" this one is now on the top of my stack. Great review in Sunday's "Washington Post." <br/> <br/>Great book well writen "
— Tom, 3/28/2011
About Tony Horwitz
Tony Horwitz (1958–2019) was the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Midnight Rising, A Voyage Long and Strange, Blue Latitudes, Confederates in the Attic, and Baghdad Without a Map. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who worked for the Wall Street Journal and New Yorker. He had also been a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and president of the Society of American Historians.