Bruce Levine is the bestselling author of four books on the Civil War era, including The Fall of the House of Dixie and Confederate Emancipation, which received the Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship and was named one of the top ten works of nonfiction of its year by The Washington Post. He is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois.
“Bruce Levine… restores [Stevens] fully to his place in the
American pantheon with Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War
Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice, a concise and powerful
biography… [and] a fitting monument to one of the most formidable
gladiators ever to stride the halls of Congress.”
— The Wall Street Journal
“At last, Thaddeus Stevens, one of the nineteenth century’s
greatest proponents of racial justice, gets the biography he
deserves. Drawing on a career of scholarly engagement with the
Civil War era, Bruce Levine expertly relates how Stevens
navigated the currents of the Second American Revolution, how
he helped to bring about the destruction of slavery and was a
leader in the effort during Reconstruction to make the United
States a biracial democracy. We need Stevens’ passion
for equality today.”
— Eric Foner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Fiery
Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery
“He was called everything from Robin Hood to Robespierre to evil
genius to fanatic and worse. He was a "radical" in a time when
that was not always derogatory. This book reveals in many
dimensions a Thaddeus Stevens, who with vicious wit and shrewd
political skill, was a primary founder of the second American
republic. Through deep understanding of all the contexts
of the Civil War era and vivid writing, Bruce Levine
gives us the best biography of this towering figure yet written,
and a timely story about the power of racial equality.”
— David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.
“At long last, the principled yet astute Thaddeus
Stevens is the subject of a sympathetic modern biography.
Bruce Levine’s adept book gives us a compelling portrait of the
Radical Republican extraordinaire, especially when he was at
the apex of his political career during the Civil War and
Reconstruction.”
— Manisha Sinha, author of The Slave's Cause: A History
of Abolition
“Often reviled and generally misunderstood, Thaddeus Stevens has
been relegated to a dark corner of the American historical stage.
The distinguished historian Bruce Levine not only brings Stevens
back into the light but also reveals his significance to the
revolutionary dynamic of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Levine’s
is a riveting read and a thought-provoking biography, more timely
than ever.”
— Steven Hahn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The
Political Worlds of Slavery and Freedom
“Spirited.”
— The Civil War Monitor
“Vital.”
— The Guardian
“Levine writes in lucid prose with a great depth of
understanding... It’s impossible to read this book without seeing a
reflection of our own combustible times.”
— BookPage
“This is the fullest, most nuanced, and best written explication of
the political career and principles ever written about one of the
key figures of nineteenth-century America. It is a major
contribution to antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction studies
and to American political biography. Anyone interested in how the
war evolved and why its aftermath was both so promising and so
disappointing needs to read this book.”
— Stephen V. Ash, author of A Massacre in Memphis: The
Race Riot that Shook the Nation One Year after the Civil War
“W.E.B. Du Bois called the pioneering antislavery politician
Thaddeus Stevens a ‘seer of democracy.’ In this superb biography,
Bruce Levine has conjured Stevens's bold vision of equality,
revealing that Stevens was a profound thinker who saw the essential
connection between civil rights and economic rights. Levine
deftly traces Stevens's dramatic political journey, with attention
to setbacks and missteps as well as to the progress Stevens
achieved for America. This is a timely tale of an
inspirational leader.”
— Elizabeth R. Varon, author of Armies of Deliverance: A
New History of the Civil War
“This succinct and compelling biography… casts Stevens as a
congressional leader of the drive to abolish slavery and implant
civil and political equality in the Constitution, though Congress
failed in the end to adopt his plan to attack economic inequality
by land reform in the reconstructed South.”
— James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
“In this taut, authoritative, and much-needed modern biography of
Thaddeus Stevens, the benchmark racial egalitarian of the Civil War
era, Bruce Levine elegantly captures the steely moral fibre and
unwavering political radicalism of an unsettling colleague and
formidable foe. This is very fine history. Additionally, Stevens,
implacable in the pursuit of racial justice, provides a relevant,
stirring, and essential model for our own times.”
— Richard Carwardine, author of Lincoln's Sense of
Humor
“[F]ascinating… an accessible and well-researched introduction to
one of the most consequential lawmakers in U.S. history.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Easily the most detailed and important account of Stevens, this
well-written biography belongs in every academic library and all
other libraries with an emphasis on American history.”
— Library Journal
“[A] fresh approach to the life of abolitionist and congressman
Thaddeus Stevens... Levine's biography of the South's much-loathed
Northern antagonist is a fine addition to the literature of this
ever-relevant era.”
— Booklist
“A convincing rehabilitation of a statesman who fought for equality
before it became fashionable.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Seeks to remind readers of Stevens’ enduring importance.”
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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