Originally published in 1982, Professor Friedman studies the abolitionists as individuals, delving into the psychology, sociology and group dynamics of the movement. He also explores the differences between the Boston and New York groups, assesses the role of the movement in the coming of the Civil War and develops an original view of feminist abolitionism.

This book, originally published in 1982, is an examination of antebellum abolitionism in the United States. Professor Friedman studies the abolitionists as individuals, delving into the psychology, sociology and group dynamics of the movement. He examines those 'immediatists' who, in contrast to gradualist circles of antislavery opinion, refused, as they saw it, to temporise with evil. He also explores the differences between the Boston and New York groups, assesses the role of the movement in the coming of the Civil War and develops an original view of feminist abolitionism.