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Title details for Benjamin Franklin Butler by Elizabeth D. Leonard - Available

Benjamin Franklin Butler

A Noisy, Fearless Life

by Elizabeth D. Leonard
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Benjamin Franklin Butler was one of the most important and controversial military and political leaders of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Remembered most often for his uncompromising administration of the Federal occupation of New Orleans during the war, Butler reemerges in this lively narrative as a man whose journey took him from childhood destitution to wealth and profound influence in state and national halls of power. Prize-winning biographer Elizabeth D. Leonard chronicles Butler's successful career in the law defending the rights of the Lowell Mill girls and other workers, his achievements as one of Abraham Lincoln's premier civilian generals, and his role in developing wartime policy in support of slavery's fugitives as the nation advanced toward emancipation. Leonard also highlights Butler's personal and political evolution, revealing how his limited understanding of racism and the horrors of slavery transformed over time, leading him into a postwar role as one of the nation's foremost advocates for Black freedom and civil rights, and one of its notable opponents of white supremacy and neo-Confederate resurgence.
Butler himself claimed he was "always with the underdog in the fight." Leonard's nuanced portrait will help readers assess such claims, peeling away generations of previous assumptions and characterizations to provide a definitive life of a consequential man.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Civil War America

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 26, 2022

  • Formats

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    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781469668062

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781469668062
      • File size: 8518 KB

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    Navigation

    • Table of contents to all chapters of the text via links.

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2022

      Prize-winning historian Leonard (U.S. history, Colby Coll.; Lincoln's Forgotten Ally) brings her considerable skill in research and writing to this biography--the fullest and most balanced one yet--of the controversial Civil War-era military and political leader Benjamin Butler, who was among the most admired and the most vilified public figures of his day. As a lawyer, U.S. senator, and general of the Union Army, Butler played pivotal roles in defining and defending principles of equality and respect for the Union during the Civil War, Reconstruction, and after. Leonard writes that during the Civil War, Butler became famous for refusing to return people fleeing enslavement to their enslavers. Among supporters of the Confederacy, he was infamous as "Beast Ben," for his apparently harsh treatment of occupied New Orleans. But in Leonard's careful reading of the events in a New Orleans in chaos, Butler brought order, sound public health measures, and relief for workers, enslaved people, and others. Leonard gives Butler mixed reviews as a military man but high marks as a principled and practical one; her biography pays particular attention to Butler's commitment to emancipation, Black civil rights, and workers' and women's rights. VERDICT Leonard sets the record straight on Butler and provides an object lesson on the ways his personality and principles combined to effect public good.--Randall M. Miller

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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  • English

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