In a letter dated 2 July 1847, Edmund Quincy, a prominent Boston abolitionist, described the thirty-three-year-old William Wells Brown as "an extraordinary fellow. I do not know that his intellectual power is equal to that of [Frederick] Douglass, but he is of a much higher cast of character. There seems to be no meanness, no littleness, no envy or suspiciousness about him." William E. Farrison, Brown's biographer, notes that he was "a man of medium stature ... was possessed of a melodious voice, a pleasing personality, and a wholesome sense of humor." Brown's particular genius lay in his down-to-earth, direct, and at times eloquent advocacy of abolitionism and, later, Christian temperance. His great talent was his ability to present dramatic, informed, and critical arguments for these major reforms, whether such arguments were given from a speaker's podium, in an essay, or in a novel. Brown was masterful at controlling a crowd...