Robert H. Abzug

Too little has been written about Weld, one of the leading abolitionists. He truly was a giant among those in the movement. It was perhaps his shunning of the public limelight that has him less recognized by historians.

The author takes a psychoanalytical approach to understanding the motives of Weld. This is valid enough, but didn't appeal so much to me. Weld's shift from focus on a broad range of reform issues, such as temperance and Finney-like evangelism is an important milestone that could have received more attention. While Weld disagreed with the Garrisonians on including of women's rights on their platform, Weld was very clearly supportive of the pioneering emphasis advanced by the Grimke sisters, Sarah and his wife Angelina.

All that said, Abzug's unraveling of Weld's withdrawal in the 1840's from his overt activism, at least the intensity he formerly exhibited, was well-described, as are his later years from Eagleswood on.

I very much liked Benjamin Thomas's "Theodore Weld, Crusader for Freedom" and Gerda Lerner's "The Grimke Sisters of South Carolina".… (más)

Azbug ties forty years of religious reform efforts together into scholarly text that read with the ease of a novel. He repeatedly brings into context the work of various reformers connecting reform efforts from earlier chapters with the movement at hand. For example, Azbug interjects from Benjamin Rush’s revolutionary Christian reform teachings and Lyman Beecher’s cosmic theater views on the woman’s question. This literary technique helps the reader to plot reform movements on a time continuum, compare the ideas and religious justifications of various reformers, and connect the reformers through their personal relationships. Azbug’s presentation of the interweaving of abolition, women’s rights, and temperance brings the reader to the conclusion that these religious reform movements meet the requirements of a cosmic war.… (más)