I read the book because I like Horwitz's writing, and it didn't disappoint. It's harder to know what to do about John Brown. I admire his willingness to die for a cause he thought was just, but it seems like he was also willing to sacrifice a lot of other people who weren't fully informed on what they signed up for. the only way to make sense of the raid on Harper's Ferry is to presume that Brown knew it was doomed to fail and went on in an attempt to bring the evils of slavery to the forefront. Or maybe he was just delusional in support of a good cause.