Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Introduction: Alarming Progress 1
4. 1. Suicide and the State of the Union 16
5. 2. The Sorrows of Young Readers 43
6. 3. Saving Sinking Strangers 81
7. 4. Wounds in the Belly of the State 115
8. 5. The Threshold of Heaven 160
9. 6. The Problem of Slave Resistance 201
10. Conclusion: Martyrs on the Altar of the Nation 247
11. Notes 269
12. Acknowledgments 319
13. Index 321