John Brown

One of the preeminent Black scholars of his era traces the life and bold aspirations of a man who devoted his life to opposing slavery at any cost.

W.E.B. Du Bois examines John Brown as a man as well as a motive force behind the abolitionist sympathies that helped lead to the Civil War. He traces Brown's sympathy for slaves to an incident in his youth when he was warmly received by a family that treated their slave with casual brutality. At the time it was written, John Brown was widely considered a fanatic at best, a lunatic at worst, but here he is seen clearly as a man driven by his Christianity and his personal morals to oppose what he clearly perceived as a tremendous wrong in society, and to do so regardless of whatever toll it might take upon him. The author examines Brown's impact on the minds of those who understood that the abolitionist cause was supported primarily by Blacks, on the lives of Blacks who discovered a white man willing to fight and die for their freedom, and by the masses who found that slavery was not only an actionable moral issue, but one of deadly urgency. Originally published in 1909, on the 50th anniversary of Brown's execution, this is W.E.B. Du Bois's only work of biography. Although less known than the author's The Souls of Black Folk or Black Reconstruction in America, John Brown remains a classic distinguished by its author's deep understanding and eloquence.

With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of John Brown is both modern and readable.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was a Black American author, sociologist, historian and civil rights activist. He was the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University and one of the founders of the NAACP. His writings include Black Reconstruction in America, commonly considered the original pioneering work of revisionist African American history, and The Souls of Black Folk, a powerful and enduringly influential examination of the African American condition. Dr. Du Bois devoted his life to working toward equal rights and opportunities for people of color in the USA and worldwide.