John Brown’s Trial by Brian McGinty

“If importance is measured by consequences, John Brown’s trial was arguably the most important criminal trial in the history of the United States, for it was intimately related to the war that followed so quickly, and it was in large measure responsible for the fact that slavery died during the war. In the trial, we see Brown’s real legacy: the force of his courtroom words and demeanor and the strength of the argument he made in his final speech. And these things, in the end, were more powerful than all the rifles and pistols and pikes that Brown brought to Harper’s Ferry.”

-Brian McGinty