The Forgotten Emancipator

Rezensionen / Stimmen

'Rebecca E. Zietlow is right - James Mitchell Ashley has been all but forgotten and deserves to be remembered. Thanks to Zietlow, we can now appreciate Ashley's pivotal role in the pre-Civil War struggle against slavery, abolition during the war, and the battle for black rights during Reconstruction. But she also emphasizes his commitment to the rights of all labourers, and we would benefit today from recalling his vision of a 'free labour' society of equals.' Eric Foner, Columbia University, New York 'James Mitchell Ashley spent decades of the nineteenth century crusading against slavery, discrimination, and labor injustice - positions in absolute harmony with one another, as the author Rebecca E. Zietlow deftly shows. This readable biography reveals Ashley in his heroism, defeat, and contradictions. More than that, it illuminates the challenges that any old-line egalitarian faced in a modern, industrializing world. In Zietlow's able hands, Ashley's life becomes as significant for our present era as it was for his own.' Michael Vorenberg, Brown University, Rhode Island 'An impressively informative and original work of seminal scholarship from beginning to end, The Forgotten Emancipator is unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library 19th century American history collections and supplemental studies reading lists.' Midwest Book Review