The Zealot and the Emancipator by H.W. Brands

Historian H.W. Brands can see subtle connections in history that others miss and puts them together in a very readable story.  In this book he picks apart  two prominent figures in the years before the onset of the Civil War.  While both John Brown and Abraham Lincoln despised the idea and practice of slavery they dealt with it in very different ways.  John Brown gathered around himself violent and rebellious men and stormed Harper's Ferry actively kidnapping slaves from their owners while Lincoln kept looking for compromise and a peaceful political movement to stop the spread to other territories and then take care of the Southern states and abolish it forever.  Spread throughout the book are anecdotes about the private lives of both these men and the political climate at the time.  In these days of social unrest, racial inequality and a passionate presidential race it is interesting to look back and see that our current situation has much in common with our past.  Lovers of history and politics of our past will find much to learn in this book.  4 stars