For the first couple of years, he rides around with John Brown’s army, which mostly consists of his sons, skirmishing with pro-slavers. Brown thinks Henry is a girl and Henry plays the part for the next four years, which makes for some amusing scenarios. Henry is taken from his owner when John Brown visits his saloon for a haircut. And this is James McBride’s tribute to John Brown, though he doesn’t gloss over the fact that Brown was an often-violent lunatic. The dedication reads, “For Ma and Jade, who loved a good whopper,” and the acknowledgement says, “Deeply grateful to those who, over the years, have kept the memory of John Brown alive.” Sure enough, the story, told by young Henry, resembles a finely written tall tale. The dedication and acknowledgement in The Good Lord Bird are simple but speak volumes about the author’s intent. Although the raid on Harper’s Ferry took place a couple of years before the Civil War began, it did a lot to ignite the tensions that would lead to the war, so the book should count for the challenge, right? April’s challenge was to read a book set during the Civil War in recognition of the 160th anniversary of the beginning of the conflict. I read The Good Lord Bird for the 2021 Thoughtful Reading Challenge. (This in no way affects the honesty of my reviews!) All commissions will be donated to the ALS Association. As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This post may contain Amazon Affiliate links. It’s told from the perspective of Henry, who was a ten-year-old slave when he was liberated by Brown and then rode with his “army” for four years, including to Harper’s Ferry. In The Good Lord Bird, we get an inside (although fictional) view of abolitionist John Brown’s violent crusade against slavery in the Kansas Territory and subsequent raid on Harper’s Ferry in the years leading up to the American Civil War.

The good lord bird book summary