From Library Journal
Abolitionist Garrison was editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper for 35 years, a record that has yet to be surpassed. Beyond those meager facts, his life and contributions are either little known or considered merely a footnote to American history. Mayer wrote an earlier biography titled A Son of Thunder: Patrick Henry and the American Republic, which was published in 1986. Through Mayer's meticulous reconstruction of Garrison's life comes a picture of a complex man who never compromised his ideals. He actively sought the immediate emancipation of all slaves, accompanied by equal rights for black people. He did not countenance colonization to another country nor the gradual emancipation espoused by many; to those ends, he dedicated his entire life. As women became actively involved in the abolitionist movement, Garrison then began to demand women's suffrage. He is not commonly remembered as an American hero, but his determined actions and stalwart convictions certainly earned him such a place in our history. A remarkable workAalbeit long and detailedAthis is well worth listening to, especially with Michael Kramer's smooth and steady voice. Highly recommended for all libraries with American history collections, public and academic.AGloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Garrison's Liberator was reputedly the most influential newspaper in the antebellum, antislavery crusade. Mayer has copious material to work from in Garrison's case, and much of it survives his sieving to appear in this thick work. So exhaustively presented are the facts that Garrison's character traits--his prickliness, for example--tend to be overwhelmed by Mayer's accounts of the contents of the Liberator or the membership wrangles within the abolitionist groups Garrison organized. Readers will find relief from detail in passages that step back and remind readers of how Garrison's uncompromising condemnation of slavery, a fringe position when he started his paper in 1831, eventuated in the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. Yet the question remains how influential Garrison and his low-circulation paper were in reality, for it took a war, not editorials by a disunionist and believer in nonviolence, to destroy slavery. Still, having gone down in history as, along with Frederick Douglass, the conscience of abolition, Garrison's life should garner new attention because of this monumental biography. Gilbert Taylor
From Kirkus Reviews
A meticulously researched and original biography of the firebrand American abolitionist. Mayer began this book after writing a biography of another outspoken nonconformist, Patrick Henry (Son of Thunder, 1986). His treatment of Garrison is decidedly revisionist; whereas other historians have downplayed Garrison's contribution or portrayed him as a grating extremist, Mayer puts him forward as one of the most pivotal and heroic figures of the 19th century. He repeatedly compares Garrison's track record on abolitionism with Abraham Lincoln's, for example, implicitly criticizing the latter's conciliatory stances on gradual abolition and compensation for slaveholders. Garrison comes across as an agitator of inexhaustible moral courage, who embraced other controversial causes (like women's rights) eschewed by more moderate reformers. The crucible of his conflicting idealism came with the Civil War; vehemently opposed to war and bloodshed, he still maintained the hope that slavery might be eradicated through this Armageddon. As a researcher, Mayer is at the top of his game; he waded through 35 years worth of Garrison's abolitionist newspaper, the Liberator, and had the sense to present its passionate editorials as a fundamental character in the story, evolving with the subject and his cause. In addition, Mayer utilizes countless letters, newspaper accounts, family papers, and journals, making this the richest textual analysis of Garrisonor perhaps any abolitionistyet to appear. (In fact, one of the most intriguing facets of Mayer's work is his discussion of the oft-precarious relationships between figures in the abolitionist movement. Garrison and Frederick Douglass maintained a chilly but civil working relationship; Harriet Beecher Stowe was more concerned with saving Garrison's heretical soul than with contributing more than her fiction to the movement.) Despite its capacious insight, at more than 700 pages, the book could do with some vigorous editing, and readers may lose patience with the author's repetition of Garrison's historical importance. This definitive biography is, like its subject matter, unabashed and eloquent, though too loquacious for casual readers. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
[M]uch of the narrative is fluently and fascinatingly rendered, and the high points are full of life. -- The New York Times Book Review, Carla Davidson
From the Publisher
"Henry Mayers massive, clearly written, often gripping biography of Garrison is a great story....None of [Garrisons] earlier chroniclers matches Mayers writerly skill and sure narrative sense." -BENJAMIN SCHWARZ, Los Angeles Times Book Review "Henry Mayer restores to Garrison his rightful place in the American pantheon. All on Fire does an outstanding job of placing Garrison in the context of the great events and issues of the era." -Chicago Tribune
"Superb...[A] richly researched, passionately written book." -WILLIAM E.CAIN, Boston Globe
"As history, as narrative, as moral testament, as witness in a grand, old-fashioned sense that Garrison himself would surely love, [All on Fire is] a spectacular achievement.JONATHAN KOZOL, author of Amazing Grace
About the Author
Henry Mayer was a National Book Award finalist for All on Fire and is the author of A Son of Thunder: Patrick Henry and the American Republic. He died in 2000.
From The Washington Post
Henry Mayer's remarkable study of Garrison is a great achievement. For the first time, Garrison's role in mobilizing Northern public opinion against slavery gets the detailed and nuanced scrutiny it deserves. More than a biography of a social reformer, this nominee for the 1998 National Book Award is also a brilliant narrative history of the United States between 1800 and 1865. Undergirded by extensive research, Mayer's account of Garrison's life and times is even more impressive for its deft examination of many complex issues of the period, including the evolution of racial attitudes, conflicting religious ideas, and nascent American feminism. These themes are woven tightly into the broader economic and political history of the period, enlivened by the masterful use of colorful detail.
Although presented as a biography of William Lloyd Garrison, an implacable social critic and abolitionist, this audiobook is an excellent historical prequel to the Civil War. The vocabulary and style lull the listener back to that time, providing detail about people and events. The narrator's baritone provides just enough emphasis and understanding to make the task of taking on lots of material a pleasant one. The positive emotional experience of the book shines as it examines the beginning of Civil Rights (and all other kinds of rights) in the United States, which was, more than today, a paradox between our constitution and our practices. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
