Quigley mines the spectacle and proceduralism of southern culture with an eye for Twainian comedy ... He is also alert to the serious lessons that Brooks learned from the beatings he took.
Mr. Quigley details a long-running feud ... The national debate that was inspired by the caning, Mr. Quigley writes, accelerated 'a mutually reinforcing dynamic between slaveholders’ efforts to repress antislavery speech by any means necessary, including violence, and the growing segment of northern public opinion that saw such repression as an existential threat to northern liberties' ... The brutality of his attack on Sumner would soon be dwarfed, and his memory overwhelmed, by a war that he helped to bring about and that would take as many as 750,000 American lives.
A lively and accessible study of Brooks and the attack on Sumner that helped propel the United States towards war; it will be a welcome addition to Civil War history collections.
