Description
Book SynopsisGeorge Bourne was one of the early American republic's first immediate abolitionists. His approach to reform was shaped by a conservative Protestant outlook that became increasingly hostile to Catholicism. Ryan McIlhenny examines the interplay of Bourne's pioneering efforts in abolitionism and his intensely anti-Catholic views.
Trade ReviewRyan McIlhenny has written a compelling book about an individual with passions difficult to categorize by contemporary ethical standards. That figure, George Bourne, was militantly anti-Catholic, but even more militantly opposed to slavery. Bourne's life and the considerable influence of his dramatic career make up a story told very well in this exceptionally well-researched and clearly written study. Historians of the antebellum era have long noted the symbiotic relationship between anti-Catholic and abolitionist ideologies. No previous scholarship, however, approaches the depth and sophistication of Ryan McIlheney's analysis of how and why these belief systems interacted so compellingly and so explosively. He accomplishes this, moreover, by giving us a superb biography of the theological visionary and endlessly combative controversialist,George Bourne, a long-overlooked but nevertheless a driving force in the interwoven development of strident anti-Catholicism and radical white abolitionism.
