In focusing on Garrison and his critics on strategy and tactics, Ms. Kraditor sees a struggle between respectability and radical action which continues to reverberate. Brilliantly successful. . .a fruitful exploration into the history of a great movement. Harold M. Hyman, Book World “From first to last this lucid, important book challenges preconceptions.... In this she is brilliantly successful.” ―Harold M. Hyman, Book World “A meticulous examination.” ―Fawn Brodie, New Republic “Superior to anything else published on the subject.” ―Don E. Fehrenbacher, American Historical Review “Original, perceptive, provocative.” ― American Historical Review The debate among those who sought to abolish slavery in America was a crucial one in the history of the nation, for it raised a great many questions we are still debating. Studying the abolitionists' thinking on the goals, strategy, and tactics of their cause, Ms. Kraditor focuses on arguments over the role of women in the Anti-Slavery Society, over religion, and over political action. Most of the major tactical problems that arose in the entire history of the abolitionist movement were thrashed out between 1834 and 1850. As the author sees it, the struggle was between "respectability" and radical action. Aileen S. Kraditor is Professor Emeritus of History at Boston University and a Fellow of the Society of American Historians. Her other books include The Ideas of Woman Suffrage Movement, 1890–1920 ; Up from the Pedestal: Selected Writings in the History of American Feminism ; The Radical Persuasion, 1890–1917 ; and Jimmy Higgins: The Mental World of the American Rank-and-File Communist, 1930–1958 .