John Brown: A fresh look at the abolitionist’s time in the Adirondacks

John Brown: A fresh look at the abolitionist’s time in the Adirondacks

John Brown, radical abolitionist, martyr to the cause, memorialized at his restored farm in the shadow of the Olympic ski jumps, is celebrated in prose (“His name is covered with a glory so bright and enduring…,” Frederick Douglass) and poetry (“The sword he wielded for the light / Turns to a victor’s palm; / His memory sounds forever more, A spirit-stirring psalm,” Louisa May Alcott). He is the subject of songs (“John Brown’s body lies a-moulde…