Nothing funnier than a cross-dressing slave boy riding the circuit with crazy ole John Brown. Offensive, hilarious, violent and sad, James McBride fills the Kansas Territory with characters straight out of a Mel Brooks movie and then throws in a dash of Quentin Tarantino for good measure. How McBride managed to weave Harriet Tubman in to the buffoonery without offending the reader is beyond me. I highly recommend!
It is indeed a Lightning Time. John Brown of Osawatomie is travelling among abolitionist supporters in Massachusetts, raising money for his fighters back in Kansas Territory. Theodore Worth is 14, a Quaker, and quite taken with the thrilling drama Brown outlines for his audience. Theodore’s father is much less impressed, but agrees to shelter Brown briefly – until he can be moved to another safe-house. Brown is, after all, a wanted man. Surprisingly, the Worth family is quite taken with their guest, though not completely convinced that the violence in Kansas is justifiable. Later, while
