William Lloyd Garrison (1805–79) was one of the most militant and uncompromising abolitionists in the United States. As the editor of the abolitionist paper The Liberator and cofounder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Garrison spent most of his life arguing against slavery on strictly moral grounds. This engrossing book presents six essays that reevaluate Garrison’s legacy, his accomplishments, and his limitations.

Eminent scholars—David W. Blight, Bruce Laurie, James Brewer Stewart, Richard J. M. Blackett, and Lois A. Brown—and a distinguished journalist, Lloyd McKim Garrison, who is Garrison’s direct descendant, reflect on Garrison as a political activist, an internationalist, an advocate of feminism, and more. Together they present a new appraisal of one of America’s most challenging, inspiring, and controversial historical figures.