Book Review – A House Divided by Marshall Poe

Author: Marshall Poe
Cover Artist: Leland Purvis
Publisher: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: January 6, 2009

Historical fiction meets graphic novel in this dramatic rendition of events leading to the election of Abraham Lincoln in a divided mid-nineteenth century America. After the death of their father, a dedicated abolitionist, Owen and Amos Bennington wrestle with their conflicting visions of a fight against slavery. Older brother Owen insists on a war fought with “words and votes,” while Amos, frustrated and sad over the loss of friends who have escaped to Canada in fear of fugitive slave laws, is attracted by John Brown’s fierce and violent protests. Against Owen’s wishes, Amos leaves his brother to join Brown and his anti-slavery militia, where his eyes are opened to the reality of Brown’s brutal methods, which Brown justifies as necessary to bring an end to the inhuman institution of slavery.

Owen fears for his brother’s life and follows news of Brown’s activities for assurance of Amos’s safety while offering his services to Lincoln, who has just lost the Republican vice-presidential nomination. Owen’s conversations with Lincoln are revealing; Lincoln, who is not an abolitionist, dismisses Owen’s idealistic views of abolitionists, who, Lincoln advises, are not necessarily concerned for the slaves but rather for economic issues. Brown is not one of these men, however, as he “lives his beliefs.” After Brown is hanged for a traitor following the Harper’s Ferry raid, the brothers are reunited when Amos makes his way to New York for a political debate between Lincoln and Douglas. Amos finally understands what his brother appreciates in Lincoln, but insists that Brown was not the “madman . . . nor the saint” people made of him. They sit side by side at Lincoln’s inauguration, united as a family again as the country is about to be torn apart.

The back cover states that the boys’ mother and father are killed in 1856, but on the tombstone on page one the mother’s year of death reads 1842. Both are vocal abolitionists, but Owen reminds the headstrong Amos that their father did not use violence to fight for his beliefs. Although their parents do not play a physical role in the story, their teachings and their fate play an important role in the brothers’ decisions; the lack of information about them is felt throughout the story. A brief mention of the circumstances of their deaths, and a clarification of the dates would have offered some resolution to this mystery.

Illustrator Leland Purvis captures the youthful fear and dismay on the boys’ faces as they struggle with their beliefs, their grief, and their concern for each other. Historian Marshall Poe easily combines believable dialogue between the characters, including the complicated John Brown, with direct quotes from speeches and documents. The battle between the States becomes personal in A House Divided in a way that speaks to young readers more intimately than traditional history materials do.

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