Member Review

When People Were Things: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln, and the Emancipation Proclamation by Lisa Waller Rogers ...

from the blurb "During the three decades before the American Civil War, Southern slaveholders tried to end the anti-slavery movement. They exerted their influence by censoring the press and the mail, attacking and killing abolitionists, burning buildings, drafting frightening new laws and repealing others, and terrorizing and abducting Northern free Blacks. Northerners began to realize that the Slave Power would not rest until slavery was allowed to plant itself all over the nation; many stopped compromising and pushed back. This awakening was due to the efforts of visionaries who used the power of the pen, purse, pulpit, and press to expose the brutal injustices of slavery in an attempt to bring about the liberation of an enslaved people and restore the country to its original commitment of equality for all."

This was a well-written dive into not only the primary, but secondary, and tertiary players that drove the change(s) that resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation. Along the way I learned quite a few things that I had never known and enjoyed the way that these more unknown narratives helped drive the pace. "When People..." features short chapters that make it an easy read and keep you engaged in the evolving story, even if you know where it's going. The disparate stories helped set the stage for the Civil War so well - placing you into the local mindsets and against the various forces on all sides, with particular attention paid to the female voices and their place. This attention to the female voice and their requisite struggle is at the heart of this book, imo. Highly recommended.