About the Book
Few Americans covered as much ground as Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Born in 1823 to a family descended from Boston's Puritan founders, he attended Harvard, like all the men in his family, and prepared for the settled life of a minister. Instead, he rejected both privilege and convention, and embraced radical causes, attaching himself to nearly every major reform movement of the day, from women's rights to abolitionism. More than merely a fellow traveler, Higginson
became a proponent of direct action. Wounded during an altercation with the police over an enslaved man who -in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act-was fighting extradition to the South, Higginson wore
the scar with pride. He became a member of Boston's Secret Six, supporting John Brown's raid and going to Bleeding Kansas with his rifle, prepared to put his life on the line. During the Civil War Higginson went to South Carolina and led one of the first Black regiments, the 1st Carolina Volunteers, into battle. Man of action though he was, "Colonel" Higginson was also a writer and journalist, friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and one of the founding
editors of the Atlantic Magazine. Emily Dickinson sought out his advice and their correspondence attests both to Dickinson's genius and Higginson's attempt to help it reach a larger audience.
Until his death in 1911, Higginson played a role, often a leading and vocal part, in nearly every progressive movement of the 19th century, earning a place in studies of abolitionism, feminism, education, temperance, Victorian fiction, as well as films, novels, and books featuring Dickinson and Harriet Tubman (whom he met in South Carolina during the Civil War). These reveal only aspects of Higginson's storied life. Douglas Egerton's biography embraces all the facets of
this American whirlwind, illuminating the ways in which Higginson's lifelong crusade for a more just world resonates today.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: Cheerful Yesterdays, 1823-1841
Chapter Two: The New Dawning Age of Faith, 1842-1847
Chapter Three: A Passion for Fires, 1848-1854
Chapter Four: Kansas Free Stater, 1854-1858
Chapter Five: Honor Among Confederates, 1858-1860
Chapter Six: More Willingness to Arm Than Formerly, 1860-1862
Chapter Seven: Minister Warrior, 1863-1865
Chapter Eight: Few Pleasures So Deep as Your Opinion, 1865-1877
Chapter Nine: Outskirts of a Public Life, 1878-1897
Chapter Ten: We All Need Action, 1898-1911
Conclusion
Index
About the Author :
Douglas R. Egerton has taught history at Le Moyne College since 1987; he has also held visiting appointments at Colgate University, Cornell University, and the University College of Dublin. He is the author of nine books, including the Lincoln Prize co-winner, Thunder At the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America, Heirs of an Honored Name: The Decline of the Adams Family and the Rise of Modern America, He Shall Go Out Free:
The Lives of Denmark Vesey, The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America's Most Progressive Era, Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election That Brought on the Civil War,
Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802, and Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America. He lives near Syracuse, New York, with his wife, historian Leigh Fought.
Review :
A welcome picture of a man who battled inequality on a wide range of fronts and maintained friendships with some of the most interesting people of the era.
Easily the best biography of Higginson in a century
A nineteenth century Zelig, Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an abolitionist, a supporter of John Brown and his raid, a friend of Emily Dickinson, the colonel of a Black Regiment in the Civil War, an advocate for womens rights, a prolific authorand more. Douglas Egerton has given us an exhaustively researched and highly readable biography of this remarkable man. —Drew Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, and Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury
Higginson was one of the foremost men of letters, public intellectuals, and reformers of his time. A radical abolitionist, supporter of women's suffrage, commander of a Black regiment in the Civil War, advocate of Black civil rights, novelist, historian, the dear preceptor of Emily Dickinson and promoter of her poetry, his crowded career almost defies the biographer's art. Douglas Egerton has mastered these difficulties to guide the reader clearly through the rich story of Higginsons life. —James M. McPherson
Douglas Egerton skillfully and gracefully brings to life a remarkable 19th century reformer who embraced every just cause of his day with equal commitment and intensity. Egertons finely drawn portrait of Thomas Wentworth Higginson gives us deeper insight into the impulse to improve society that defined this first Age of Reform. —Carol Berkin, Presidential Professor of History, Emerita, CUNY
In these trying times, it lifts the spirits to read of a strong-minded and dedicated reformer who challenged convention and fought for the promise of America. Egerton has provided us with a stirring, deeply researched and beautifully written biography of one of the giants of American history. —Richard Blackett, Emeritus Professor History, Vanderbilt University
Douglas Egerton's perceptive biography portrays a true radical who embraced violence if necessary to achieve results and often stood apart even from most other reformers. —Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the Great American Crisis
Deeply researched, splendidly crafted, and riveting, Douglas Egertons magnificent biography does justice, at last, to Higginsons long and fascinating life and extraordinary career. — Gary J. Kornblith, Professor of History Emeritus, Oberlin College
Beautifully written and engaging, Egertons biography depicts a complex, captivating man whose incendiary passion for racial and gender emancipation blazed across the nineteenth century. Egerton expertly guides the reader through key moments in American politics and culture, illuminating the world in which Higginson thrivedand the issues we still face today. — Carol Lasser, Director, Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society, Emerita Professor of History, Oberlin College
Abolitionist feminist Thomas Wentworth Higginson has long needed a modern biography and in Douglas Egerton he has a worthy biographer. Egerton's adept book finally does justice to one of New England's foremost radical minds, who could wield a sword as well as a pen. — Manisha Sinha, author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920
Brings Higginson vividly to life as a reflective intellectual and man of action.
Magnificent, exhaustively-researched, and beautifully-written.
