Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States

by Laura L. Mielke

In the mid-19th century, rhetoric surrounding slavery was permeated by violence. Slavery's defenders often used brute force to suppress opponents, and even those abolitionists dedicated to pacifism drew upon visions of widespread destruction. Provocative Eloquence recounts how the theater, long an arena for heightened eloquence and physical contest, proved terribly relevant in the lead up to the Civil War. As antislavery speech and open conflict...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0472131052
• ISBN13: 9780472131051
• Release Date: February 2019
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.1"