Polemical Pain

"Writing with clarity and grace, Abruzzo makes a persuasive case . . . Her book will fascinate not only scholars exploring slavery and sectionalism but also historians examining the emergence of new definitions of cruelty and benevolence at the advent of the modern world."—Jeffrey Robert Young, Civil War Book Review

"Abruzzo's lucidly written and stunningly original analysis, encompassing debates over the slave trade, colonization, emancipation, and the impact of Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, challenges present-day assumptions concerning the evident nature of ethical judgments."—Choice

"Polemical Pain is highly recommended as a first-rate work of intellectual history. Abruzzo has written a richly detailed history not easily captured by the limited space of this review. The result is an important book that is well researched and impressively argued, and that greatly advances our knowledge about the national quarrel about slavery through the language of humanitarianism. It is widely applicable and will surely find a diverse audience."—Mark J. Fleszar, H-Law, H-Net Reviews

"A significant reappraisal of Civil War causation and an important contribution to the broader history of the emergence of the modern United States."—James Hill Welborn III, Civil War Monitor

"Abruzzo offers a detailed and comprehensive examination of the relationship between American debates over the morality of slavery and evolving national and international notions of the meaning and limits of humane behavior . . . It is a very illuminating book."—Joanne Pope Melish, New England Quarterly

"A well-rounded discussion."—Colleen A. Vasconcellos, Journal of World History

"Polemical Pain: Slavery, Cruelty, and the Rise of Humanitarianism will interest scholars of pro- and antislavery thought as well as humanitarianism."—Carol Faulkner, Journal of Southern History

"Highly readable and certainly teachable."—Justin Rogers-Cooper, Nineteenth-Century Contexts

"[A] thought-provoking study. . . Polemical Pain makes an important contribution."—Amanda B. Moniz, Journal of the Early Republic

"An important work of scholarship, especially for those interested in the history of slavery or humanitarian reform."—Myra C. Glenn, American Historical Review

"Compelling."—Kirsten Schultz, Common Knowledge