Devils and Rebels: The Making of Hawthorne s Damned Politics

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's own time, other New England writers harshly condemned his views on abolitionism and slavery. This viewpoint has persisted, and is particularly evident in the past two decades, as scholars have characterized Hawthorne's slavery politics as morally reprehensible. ""Devils and Rebels"" takes a closer look at the historical and biographical record and offers fresh readings of Hawthorne that reveal striking evidence of his true political values and beliefs.The study argues that Hawthorne's political thought, grounded in pacifism, possesses an overlooked richness and depth that allowed him to resist the kind of binary thinking that could lead to violence and war. Reynolds' impassioned arguments have direct relevance to our times, as they shed light on the difficulties that public intellectuals with independent conviction and imagination might face during times of political strife. Was Nathaniel Hawthorne a racist? A compelling second look at a canonical American author