Book Description Review “A clear, vibrant picture of the varieties of heroism that appear in battles for human rights.”—Kirkus Reviews“An . . . engaging narrative. Buehrens’s take on Transcendental activism will appeal to scholars interested in exploring antebellum social justice concerns.”—Publishers Weekly“A well-written introduction to the Transcendentalists and a complement to Philip Gura’s more idea-driven American Transcendentalism.”—Library Journal“The book is a historic-biography which also serves as welcome primer on ‘how to become more self-transcendent in these difficult times.’”—The Boston Globe“Buehrens skillfully traces the relationships between the Transcendentalists and other leading activists of the nineteenth century, demonstrating how vital these relationships were in shaping not only the individuals involved but entire reform movements. Conflagration provides one of the most extensive portraits of the Transcendentalists to date and helps explain why they continue to fascinate and inspire us.”—Nicole C. Kirk, Frank and Alice Schulman Professor of Unitarian Universalist History at Meadville Lombard Theological School“Conflagration is brightly written, deftly organized, and strikingly well-informed narrative history. Where many, perhaps most, accounts of the Transcendentalists center on Concord, and on ideas and personal lives and on writing, Buehrens’s focus is sharply on the larger world of Boston and on ‘fervent activists and their work.’ His grasp of narrative is sure, his stories very readable indeed, and he aims not just for the scholars and specialists but for the general reader. Anyone dismayed by America’s current problems can take heart from this passionate examination of some of our better angels.”—Robert D. Richardson, author of Emerson: The Mind on Fire“Transcendentalism was more than Concord! While Thoreau meditated at Walden and Emerson lectured at the lyceum, their spiritual friends fought slavery, created communes, empowered women, and imagined new forms of religious community. The spiritual friendships forged in the early gatherings of the Transcendentalist Club allowed the movement to ripple outward, transforming their own time and our own. Now John Buehrens has told many forgotten Transcendentalist stories in one of the most wide-ranging histories of the movement ever written. Buehrens places Boston’s Church of the Disciples and its pastor, James Freeman Clarke, at the center of his multifaceted story. These ‘Disciples,’ among them women’s rights champion Julia Ward Howe and the Republican politician John Andrew, built bridges between Christian liturgy and post-Christian mysticism, between armed resistance to slavery and the political establishment, and between Boston and the nation. Their legacy challenges us to transform both our understanding of Transcendentalism and our own lives.”—Dan McKanan, author of Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition“Conflagration is a fresh and stimulating history of Transcendentalism, the radical religious and political movement that has remained enigmatic over the decades despite volumes of scholarly analysis. Rather than asking what Transcendentalism means, John Buehrens asks instead what did the Transcendentalists do? They led a dramatic shift of the course of American history, he answers, toward an ethos of world-inclusive spirituality and egalitarian social reform. His biographical perspective and his eye for the shared sympathies circulating among Transcendentalist adherents enlarge and enliven our understanding of the movement’s legacy. Conflagration is the book that makes it clear that Transcendentalism was indeed a movement. Its dedication to justice, comprehensive knowledge, and universal compassion are values that now seem of critical importance.”—David M. Robinson, author of Natural Life: Thoreau’s Worldly Transcendentalism Read more About the Author John Buehrens was the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations from 1993 to 2001. His previous books include Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals; with Forrest Church, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism; and with Rebecca Ann Parker, A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion for the Twenty-first Century. Read more Customers Review: The history of the Transcendentalist movement in the 19th century lead up to the Civil War is not generally known but is essential to understand the human rights movements of today.I strongly recommend this wonderful book for both history buffs and those who truly want to understand why we have many of our rights today.
I just finished two years of researching the American suffragists, and I can say in all that time, I read absolutely nothing about the Transcendentalists. Many of the early suffragists were Quaker, a fact that cropped up continually in my reading. If the Transcendentalists were a true force for social reform, wouldn’t I have encountered that fact?While the blurb for the book says that the author will show that Transcendentalists were not isolated individuals, but acted as a community to affect social reform, I don’t find that to be proven by the text. For one thing, the book is divided up by profiles of individuals, which necessarily isolates each story. Secondly, Transcendentalism doesn’t seem to have been a cohesive movement. The adherents might have agreed on underlying principles such as spiritual friendship, but they seem to have had more differences than commonalities. I recognize this state of affairs, because I grew up in a separatist faith community that split every time some guy decided he had the only true revelation from God and everybody else’s doctrine was too liberal (the worst thing!).For me, reading about the Transcendentalists was a great contrast to the suffragists, who came from all backgrounds of faith and belief or non-belief. Their passion for the vote, and their willingness to commit their lives to it, pulled them together into one powerful force to effect societal change (despite some rifts due to racial issues and modes of protest). To me, the Transcendentalists, as depicted in this book, pretty much spent their time writing books and preaching sermons of social action, interspersed with occasional acts that demonstrated their underlying progressive thought. A religion of intellect over action.Still, I found myself interested in the stories of these 19th century people. Actually, I was distracted from the Transcendental theme by the sheer drama of their lives, marriages, and families. It’s a credit to the author that he could make people from 150 years ago as vivid as anyone living today. But you need some perseverance — the author tends to write about ideas and events as if the reader already knows something about them. For example, in the introduction and first chapter, the author writes about a ship that goes up in flames in 1840. He mentions this event three times without explaining what really happened. Without that knowledge, it’s hard to understand the point he’s trying to make about it.
The name “Transcendentalists” immediately calls to mind Emerson and Thoreau, but they make only brief passing appearances in this book. Rather, it’s largely devoted to biographies of various figures in the leadership of the Unitarian church, especially ministers. Many of these people had interesting lives, though the book sometimes gets bogged down in the details of their financial, marital, and medical difficulties. UU congregants will probably find this more interesting than most, since it gives a good account of the controversies and struggles which affected this church in the mid-19th century. Especially interesting is the story of the resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law, during the 1850’s, which was largely led by Unitarians (who also gave material support to John Brown). As the author points out, the influence of these men and women continues to this day in social justice work and even in the seeds of LGBT liberation (in the works of Julia Ward Howe). The book could have given more attention to New Thought, which was a major continuation of the Transcendental movement, in the work of the Fillmores and the Unity Church, as well as (at third hand) Mary Baker Eddy and the Christian Science Church (James Wiggin, a Unitarian minister, edited and partly wrote the text of Science and Health!)
‘Conflagration’ has an evocative subtitle: ‘How the Transcendentalists Sparked the American Struggle for Racial, Gender, and Social Justice.’ That rather extended description points both to the strengths and limitations of this unusual book.In this time of historical amnesia, the Transcendentalists poke their heads up through the enduring if declining canonical status of Emerson and Thoreau in particular. Author John Buehrens provides readable cameos of a series of figures from this movement. They are well-written, accessible to anyone, without regard to prior knowledge of nineteenth-century American history. Buehrens categorizes dominant personalities in terms of our own contemporary thought. Thus he analyzes their influence in terms of current concerns, from climate disruption to intersectionality.As Transcendentalist Emerson might note, that strength is matched by a contrasting compensation. Author Buehrens, a former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, pushes against the guardrails of historiography and at times breaks through them, landing in the barren fields of presentism, comprehending the past through our own experience. This makes the book more accessible and entertaining than it might be otherwise. This likely brings the book to a wider audience, though it may make it less enduring as history.I like this book very much. It’s well conceived and executed. The author appears to be a person who brings color to his experience and that of others, bringing history and great personalities to bear in today’s world. If you’re a by-the-book historian, you may find yourself quibbling with some of his analytical choices. If you’re an academic historian or expert in the nineteenth-century American history you might well have deeper objections. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a good introduction to a spectacular movement that included personalities of enduring impact, you may well find value and entertainment in this unusual work. |
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