{"product_id":"the-day-they-hanged-old-john-r-van-atta-9780826223388","title":"The Day They Hanged Old Brown: The Making of Celebrity and Martyrdom in the Civil War Era","description":"Abolitionist, fanatic, terrorist, freedom fighter, alleged murderer--all of those labels fit John Brown. Yet he also qualified as a mid-nineteenth-century \u003ci\u003ecelebrity\u003c\/i\u003e. Reserved only for a few, celebrity in Brown's time was, in historian Carolyn Eastman's words, a quality \"of being well known, an attribute, a degree of popularity and fame--the state of being celebrated by others,\" as Brown certainly was. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Brown's lifespan covered most of the period between the Revolution and the Civil War, a time of the still-early beginnings of the United States. Only then had his kind of \"celebrity\" started to matter. From different economic and moral perspectives, politically aware Americans clashed over different visions for the future of the country. At that time, any disruptive figure might be taken as a barometer of the progress or the decline of the republic. A function of the widely varying newspapers and magazines of that day, celebrity offered Americans an angle of vision, happily or not, as to who they were or were becoming or believed themselves to be--as if by a mirror reflection. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Day They Hanged Old Brown\u003c\/i\u003e, John Van Atta examines the creation of \u003ci\u003ecelebrity \u003c\/i\u003ein John Brown's time and how it differed from modern day perceptions. Yet, as applicable as the concept of celebrity is in this case, the story of Brown's notoriety represents far more. To his admirers, Brown was not merely a celebrity; he was a hero and, after his sacrificial death, a martyr. Not all celebrities rise to such levels. This book traces the meaning of heroism and martyrdom--as well as the opposite side of that coin, villainy--and suggests that John Brown's story and legacy helped to redefine these concepts for many Americans during the era of the Civil War, before modern historians began to deliberate him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e John R. Van Atta\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0826223389\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780826223388\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Missouri Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/31\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 358\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"John R. Van Atta","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46927763767551,"sku":"9780826223388","price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_560b9721-d652-4565-83bf-f1400f53c732.jpg?v=1749372890","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-day-they-hanged-old-john-r-van-atta-9780826223388","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}