by Bruce Levine
For too long Thaddeus Stevens has been relegated to the wings of the great historical drama of the American Civil War. Hidden in the shadows of other more prominent politicians and military figures who take center stage, he was destined to appear only as a bit player or part of the chorus of Radical Republicans, seldom featured in the playbill and rarely if ever as the star of the show.
In 2012 Stevens’ star rose significantly higher to co-star billing in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” written by Tony Kushner. After watching the Academy Award winning film a search of Amazon.com revealed the dearth of works in which Stevens features as the star; that is until now.
Bruce Levine has written an anxiously awaited vehicle starring our favorite curmudgeonly Radical Republican, “Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice.” A narrative political biography, Levine’s womb to tomb treatment follows the our star’s rise from the horizon of local Pennsylvania politics to his zenith as a member of the United States House of Representatives and his chairmanships of its powerful Ways and Means and House Appropriations committees. Levine traces the evolution of Stevens from being an Anti-Mason, to a Know Nothing, a Whig and finally a Republican, and his transformation as an abolitionist to his radical agenda to abolish slavery forever from the soil of the United States. As a member of the House of Representatives he helped lead American through the deepest depths of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Filled with quotations “Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice” is a well written, and thoroughly researched narrative tour de force biography of Thaddeus Stevens. The only fault I find with Levine’s work is it is a strictly political biography; precious little appears in regard to Stevens’ personal life, which would have made a fuller rounder biography. But taken as it is Thaddeus Stevens shines in his time in the spotlight at center stage.
Bruce Levine is the bestselling author of four books on the Civil War era, including The Fall of the House of Dixie and Confederate Emancipation, which received the Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship and was named one of the top ten works of nonfiction of its year by The Washington Post. He is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois
ISBN 978-1476793375, Simon & Schuster, © 2021, Hardcover, 320 pages, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes & Index. $28.00. To purchase click HERE.
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