Thaddeus Stevens, Hans L. Trefousse
Thaddeus Stevens, Hans L. Trefousse
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Thaddeus Stevens
Nineteenth-Century Egalitarian

Author: Hans L. Trefousse

Narrator: Tom Weiner

Unabridged: 10 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/10/2013


Synopsis

One of the most controversial figures in nineteenth-century American history, Thaddeus Stevens is best remembered for his role as congressional leader of the radical Republicans and as a chief architect of Reconstruction. Long painted by historians as a vindictive dictator of Congress, out to punish the South at the behest of big business and his own ego, Stevens receives a more balanced treatment in Hans L. Trefousses biography, which portrays him as an impassioned orator and a leader in the struggle against slavery. Trefousse traces Stevens career through its major phases, from his days in the Pennsylvania state legislature, when he antagonized Freemasons, slaveholders, and Jacksonian Democrats, to his political involvement during Reconstruction, when he helped author the Fourteenth Amendment and spurred on the passage of the Reconstruction Acts and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Throughout, Trefousse explores the motivations for Stevens lifelong commitment to racial equality, thus furnishing a fuller portrait of the man whose fervent opposition to slavery helped move his more moderate congressional colleagues toward the implementation of egalitarian policies.

About Hans L. Trefousse

Hans L. Trefousse (1921–2010) was distinguished professor of history at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the respected author of works on Reconstruction-era political figures.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Seamus on January 29, 2013

5 stars for Thaddeus Stevens. 3-4 stars for Trefousse's biography: he deserves a huge amount of credit for being the first to finally re-evaluate Stevens. After decades of being vilified by Southern apologists, The Great Commoner finally gets something like the Life he deserves. Trefousse's writing......more

Goodreads review by RYD on October 15, 2011

I just read a biography of Charles Sumner, so I wanted to also read one of Thaddeus Stevens, since in older, Southern-dominated, accounts they are the twin villains of the Union side of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Like Sumner, it is clear that Stevens was far ahead of his time, which makes the......more

Goodreads review by Tsarina60 on May 08, 2013

Loved it. Wonder why not more emphasis is placed on this individual in textbooks. I got interested in him after seeing the movie Lincoln. Had a hard time equating radical Republicanism of those times compared with our times. He stood up for all of the disenfranchised including Blacks, the poor, Morm......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on January 23, 2021

Like Schoolhouse Rock's "How a Bill Becomes a Law" without the music or humor. This biography of radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens somehow manages to strip all the radicalism (or at least passion) out of Stevens' life and produces an exceedingly dry biography that is more akin to reading the Congr......more

Goodreads review by Colleen on August 20, 2015

Before writing this, I read several other reviews of the book to get a sense of the opinions of other people and found that I largely agree with many of them. The book was dry and factual. Facts are good but in order to make a book, or a life, interesting, it is imperative that the author fill in wi......more