Book Description
A Da Capo original: The extraordinary writings of one of the most vigorous, effective-and overlooked-shapers of American history, and the rediscovery of an American visionary

Thomas Wentworth Higginson is little known today, but during his own lifetime his remarkable activism put him at the very heart of the pivotal social movements reshaping America for the nineteenth century and beyond. Born in Cambridge, he was a fervent abolitionist, running guns to anti-slavery settlers and financing John Brown's raid. During the Civil War, he commanded the first black unit to fight for the Union, and their achievements (publicized in his classic Army Life in a Black Regiment) opened the way for further black enlistment. He also championed women's rights for sixty years, lecturing and agitating for suffrage. His lifelong correspondence with Emily Dickinson led to his editing her verse for publication, which some have called his greatest literary legacy. But in fact that legacy is here, in the essays he wrote about the many causes to which he dedicated his life. With this volume Meyer has guaranteed the rediscovery of a major American figure whose ideas made him a radical in his society but a visionary in ours. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not a review; merely a comment on the subject
Howard Meyer is to be commended for his efforts at rescuing T. W. Higginson from the dustbin of history.All Americans, and especially African Americans, should know something of him.Clergyman, historian, author, early women's rights supporter, abolitionist, Colonel in the Union Army, T.W.H is a man worth knowing about - a true intellectual man of action.I have read Meyer's earlier works on T.W.H and benefited from them.

While browsing at a brick & mortar bookstore yesterday evening I came across Mr. Meyer's new book and casually fanned through it. I was horrified to see that the only (I think) photograph published within the book is that of a young college-age Wentworth, with unattractively long hair, and the look of an idle popinjay: imagine, if you will, a combination of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf (and actually more of the latter). Howard, what in God's name were you thinking of?

To potential readers:purchase the book and learn about a man of high caliber who not only talked the talk but walked the walk.If you agree with me about the photograph, excise it and mail it back to the publisher.Mr. Meyer's editor may thereby profit from the experience. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
These pages record some of the adventures of the First South Carolina Volunteers, the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the United States during the late civil war. It was, indeed, the first colored regiment of any kind so mustered, except a portion of the troops raised by Major-General Butler at New Orleans. These scarcely belonged to the same class, however, being recruited from the free colored population of that city, a comparatively self-reliant and educated race. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

GLORY II
Those familiar with the critical role that the recruitment of black troops into the Union Armies in the American Civil War usually think about the famous Massachusetts 54th Regiment under Robert Gould Shaw which has received wide attention in book, film and sculpture. And those heroic fighters deserve those honors. Glory, indeed. However, other units were formed from other regions that are also noteworthy. And none more so than the 1st South Carolina Volunteers commanded by the arch-abolitionist Theodore Higginson one of John Brown's most fervent supporters and an early advocate of arming the slaves during the Civil War. He desperately wanted to lead armed blacks in battle and got his wish.

I have remarked elsewhere (in a review of William Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner)that while the slaves in the South, for a host of reasons, did not insurrect with the intensity or frequency of say Haiti, the other West Indian islands or Brazil that when the time came to show discipline, courage and honor under arms that blacks would prove not inferior to whites. And Higginson's book is prima facie evidence for that position.

One should note that, unlike the Massachusetts 54th which was made up primarily of freedman the 1st South Carolina was made up of units of fugitive and abandoned slaves. Thus, one should have assumed that it would have been harder to train and discipline uneducated and much-abused slaves. Not so. After reading a number of books on the trials and tribulations of various Union regiments, including the famous Irish Brigade, the story Higginson tells compares very favorably with those units. While Higginson's use of `negro' dialect in the telling of his story which may not be to the liking of some of today's `politically correct' readers of this book it is nevertheless a story worth reading told by a `high' abolitionist and Civil War hero.
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Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 3044 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Hawthorne in his Wonder Book has described the beautiful Greek myths and traditions, but no one has yet made similar use of the wondrous tales that gathered for more than a thousand years about the islands of the Atlantic deep. Although they are a part of the mythical period of American history, these hazy legends were altogether disdained by the earlier historians; indeed, George Bancroft made it a matter of actual pride that the beginning of the American annals was bare and literal. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Fascinating journalofCivil War life.
Bravo to Christopher Looby for recognizing the importance of these diaries and bringing them to our attention.Higginson's thoughts and feelings about war and the men under his command unfold to portray a quiet hero. Against the dual backdrops of military horror and social conflict, Higginson's discussions of his men and his relationships with them are sensitive and surprising.Letters to his family offer an interesting glimpse of family roles while underscoring Higginson's essential humantity.

Looby's notes provide thoughtful comment. Stunning job. This is an excellent book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best non-fiction work to come out of the Civil War
Several years ago I urged John Seelye to edit this work for Penguin.A couple of years after that, he asked me to do it instead, and I did.This is a remarkable book about a literate Yankee (Higginson"discovered" the poet Emily Dickinson) who "discovers"the South. It's also "about" Black soldiers in a white war, whiteofficers in a Black regiment, self-discovery, rivers, and hope.Much ofthe imagery and characterization in the movie GLORY seems to have beenlifted from this book: it is, after all, a first-hand narrative of war byan idealist sorely tested by politics and physical hardship.Higginson'swriting of the book is in part his attempt to deal with what today we wouldcall Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder, and it is no wonder that the tonesometimes reminds the reader of Hemingway's "Big Two-HeartedRiver."Because the teller of this story emerges as an interestingperson per se, this edition includes some of his other essays, ranging fromhis fascination with slave rebellion to his appreciation for poetry. ... Read more