Notes Concerning the Author
Henry Clay Dean (1822-1887) was a Methodist preacher, lawyer, orator and author. Born in Pennsylvania, son of a stonemason and graduate of Madison College in Pennsylvania, Dean relocated to Iowa in 1850, where he remained during the days of nearby “Bleeding Kansas,” the War Between the States and the first years of Political Reconstruction. It was in Iowa that he wrote the book reviewed here. In 1871 he relocated to Missouri, where he remained until passing on in 1887.
Our Review:
We find Dean’s work “excellent; value that it was written during Reconstruction by an Iowa Yankee persecuted for being anti-war, and call your attention again to the publication date of 1869.
The Publisher of at 2012 Classic Reprint says:
Crimes of the Civil War and Curse of the Funding System is a most remarkable book. It is a plain rehearsal of thrilling incidents which have occurred in this country within the past few years; it is a record of some of the basest crimes ever inflicted upon man by his fellow; it graphically depicts many heartrending outrages perpetrated upon humanity, in the name of liberty, by the unbridled passions of a fanatical despotism; it is a faithful chronicle of passing events and contemplates the character of men as photographed by themselves in the sun-light of heaven; it views things as they really-exist fairly, honestly and openly; it withdraws the veil of mystery which conceals the hideous form of a ruined government and an oppressed people. History is made to repeat itself, although upon a grander scale than the world ever before contemplated. Every page has been subjected to an unscrupulous inquisition; facts and figures are made to speak the untrammeled truth, and the entire testimony is unquestionable. The style is terse and the diction uncompromising, and every sentence is clothed in a strong lucid language which has the impress of the masterly hand and spirit of the distinguished author. The work is gotten up in a plain, neat form, sufficiently cheap to be in reach of the general reader; typographical errors in the 2012 reprint have been avoided as far as possible, and we trust it will find its way to the shops and firesides of the great masses of the laboring and over-taxed people of the United States. It is the champion of truth and justice, and we send it forth on its mission, with full confidence in its power, to defend the right and maintain its principles.”
Availability of this Book
Fortunately this revealing book is available as a recent reprint and as a Kindle e-book.
CNW, HRW