Half Slave and Half Free

Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of Civil War
by Bruce Levine

In this vigorously argued narrative tracking the causes of the Civil War, Levine tries to explain what drove so many working people to commit themselves to the cause of freedom--Southern slaves by their efforts to resist bondage and Northern farmers, mechanics, and factory laborers by their support for free soil and free labor principles. By Levine's reckoning, the slavery issue overrode ethnic and economic concerns and made sectional differences almost irreconciliable within the framework of the Union. Levine succeeds in giving fresh views of the social lives of immigrants, slaves, and working people generally, but his preoccupation with the politics of slavery overwhelms his social history and makes disunion seem more predestined than it really was.

Nat Turner

Nat Turner: Prophet and Slave Revolt Leader
by Terry Bisson
The Black American Series

A fiery preacher and militant leader, Nat Turner organized a slave uprising that struck a defiant blow against slavery in the United States 30 years before the start of the Civil War.

A well-written, sympathetic biography of the leader of our nations' bloodiest slave revolt60 whites were killed by the insurgents in 1831, and 200 blacks lost their lives in the ensuing terror. Bisson creates an excellent background to Turner's life, describing not only the daily life of a slave, but also how it felt to have no control over one's destiny. The violence of Turner's revolt is toned down a bit for the younger audience, without losing the chaotic emotions behind it. In addition to the loss of life, Bisson points out that the revolution shattered the notions "that the slaves would not, or could not, fight for their freedom,'' and that "blacks were happy as slaves and would submit forever to be beasts of burden.''