In the sesquicentennial year of the Harper's Ferry raid, John Brown's War against Slavery emerged as a formidable and felicitous labor of scholarship, the nature of which merits recognition as a landmark contribution to the literature. McGlone is a veteran John Brown scholar and this work has been a long time coming, undoubtedly also evolving in its extended preparation – particularly since biographical labor on Brown has grown considerably since this work was first undertaken. John Brown's War is excellently written and thoroughly annotated so that John Brown students will find it an extremely helpful volume, both for its depth of research and for its insightful interpretation. However, John Brown's War does not follow a strict biographical format, but rather provides a kind of bio-study, flexing considerable muscle by thematically addressing most of the key issues relating to Brown's life as an enemy of slavery. McGlone has made an impressive effort in addressing a prickly handful of twentieth-century scholarly concerns. Most notably, the author addresses (1) the charge that Brown's failures in business compelled him to seek vindication as an anti-slavery fanatic, (2) that the abolitionist was plagued by mental illness, (3) that Brown was a “religious fanatic,” (4) that the infamous “Pottawatomie massacre” of 1856 was a ruthless and unwarranted act of political murder and a prototype of contemporary terrorism, and (5) that the Harper's Ferry raid was a quixotic adventure with neither rationale nor real support from locally enslaved people. Although McGlone is not the first to answer these charges, his analysis is the first and most complete work by an academic historian. The exhaustive, almost needless, lengths to which he goes, for instance, in addressing issues of mental illness is far less a biographical necessity than an expedient of engaging the “in-house” prejudices and assumptions of the academy. Otherwise, studied researchers and biographers of Brown have never taken seriously the mental illness charge that characterizes so many pedestrian academic narratives.

One of the high points of this book is McGlone's unparalleled use of primary documents and his seasoned familiarity with the Brown family. Among other things, it has served well in his effective contention that Brown's strong family network of support mitigates the hackneyed “failure-begets-fanaticism” notion often raised in evaluation of Brown's transition from failed businessman to radical abolitionist (34). Another helpful aspect of this book pertains to the popular allegation of Brown's “terrorism,” something that McGlone effectively dissembles and analyzes, concluding that the “line between terrorism, political violence, and guerilla warfare is not easily drawn even in our own times, and the conflict in Kansas presents a bewildering mosaic of violence that defies precise labeling” (136). His conclusions at least point out that Brown's leadership in the Pottawatomie killings is not synonymous with contemporary terrorism, and that the killings, as a “preemptive strike,” have to be considered from the standpoint of a “local quarrel” that entailed real danger posed to Brown's family (128).

Of course, no work of biography escapes a measure of error and speculation. For instance, McGlone denies that John Brown and his sons had participated in the “routing” of a “bogus” pro-slavery court in April 1856, relying exclusively on the abolitionist's letter to his brother-in-law, Stephen Adair. Unfortunately, this reading fails in light of another letter written by Brown to his wife, that McGlone seems to have overlooked, in which the abolitionist explicitly states his presence and involvement in the incident, and its outcome (108–9). In discussing the Great Awakening, McGlone confuses George Whitefield with John Wesley, mistakenly attributing the latter's “assault” on Calvinism to the former (35). Along with other small errors, McGlone tends to speculate in a number of cases, such as exaggerating the dynamics of John Brown's yearning to please his father's expectations (70, 141), and an unwarranted and unverifiable statement about Brown being “tormented” concerning “the state of his immortal soul” (96). Such garnishing should not be mistaken for fact. Of more concern, however, is McGlone's treatment of Brown as a prisoner in Virginia, where this work is more seriously beset by a combination of speculation and a failure to read more deeply into the political and legal aspects of his words within the context of a trial completely defined by a pro-slavery agenda.

John Brown's War against Slavery is a formidable work and a noteworthy contribution to the literature, but will serve more as a great resource text than as the standard among literary narratives. Its primary contribution is found in the author's thoughtful consideration of evidence and his critical reassessment of a number of conventional assumptions regarding John Brown yet pervasive in the academy.