I'll confess it: I'm a bit of a Civil War geek. Not to the extent that I dress up and play soldier, but I like the history of it, and I've read quite a bit about it. It fascinates me. I blame Ken Burns.
For that reason, it was with some excitement that I opened my copy of "The Shadow of the Civil War: Passmore Williamson and the Rescue of Jane Johnson" by local folks Nat Brandt and Yanna Kroyt Brandt.
The book covers a little-known but important incident in the tumultuous times leading up to the Civil War that started when Williamson went to jail in 1855 for helping Johnson and her children escape slavery while they were passing through Philadelphia. The incident and its subsequent court case became a cause celebre and ultimately vindicated the state sovereignty of Pennsylvania over the power of slavery.
I was intrigued to learn about this, and I'm absolutely enthralled with the Brandts' writing which is lively, precise and quite moving without resorting to sentimentality. It is some of the finest nonfiction writing I've read in a while, and it's always fun to discover an important historical event which you didn't know anything about.
If you're intrigued, the Brandts will be at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on Tuesday, Aug. 7, at 7 p.m. to discuss their book. For information, call 802-254-5290, ext. 101.