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Tony Horwitz talks about John Brown, the abolitionist whose raid on Harpers Ferry led to the Civil War. Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War tells the true story of the raid—plotted in secret, launched in the dark, it was a pivotal moment in U.S. history. Unlike most abolitionists, he was willing to take up arms, after Brown's capture, his defiant eloquence galvanized the North and appalled the South.

Tony Horwitz talks about John Brown, the abolitionist whose raid on Harpers Ferry led to the Civil War. Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War tells the true story of the raid—plotted in secret, launched in the dark, it was a pivotal moment in U.S. history. Unlike most abolitionists, he was willing to take up arms, after Brown's capture, his defiant eloquence galvanized the North and appalled the South.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. The road to America’s bloodiest conflict was certainly a long one. But the spark that set the war in motion began on October 16th, 1859. That night, a fierce abolitionist named John Brown staged a bloody raid on the armory at Harper's Ferry. Historians have long cited John Brown's raid as the beginning of the end for slavery in the United States. But little has been known about the man himself, until now.

Do you ever wonder what happened in North America between Columbus's sail in 1492 and the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620? Tony Horwitz answers that question through the stories of the brave and often crazed explorers who roamed the New World in A Voyage Long and Strange: On ...