The Scorpion's Sting Antislavery and the Coming of the Civil War
, by Oakes, JamesNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9780393351217 | 0393351211
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 6/15/2015
The image of a scorpion surrounded by a ring of fire, stinging itself to death, was widespread among antislavery leaders before the Civil War. It captures their long-standing strategy for peaceful abolition: they would surround the slave states with a cordon of freedom, constricting slavery and inducing the social crisis in which the peculiar institution would die. The image opens a fresh perspective on antislavery and the coming of the Civil War, brilliantly explored here by one of our greatest historians of the period.