Snow-Storm in August

Starred review from April 16, 2012
On August 4, 1835, young slave Arthur Bowen, inebriated and angry after a night of conversation with other slaves seeking to end slavery, entered the bedroom of his sleeping owner, Anna Thornton, carrying an ax. Awakened and fearing Bowen intended to kill her, she raised an alarm. While passions were already running high in Washington, D.C., fueled by fears of a possible slave insurrection and unsettled feelings about slavery itself, a white mob attacked the highly successful restaurant of Beverly Snow, a free man of mixed race with a loyal following among whites for his sly sense of humor and impeccably cooked feasts. A young attorney, Francis Scott Key, already known for his poem “The Star-Spangled Banner,” prosecuted the Bowen case, and Bowen was sentenced to death. But in a compelling twist of fate, Anna Thornton petitioned for Bowen’s pardon, which President Andrew Jackson granted. In a crackling good tale of the deep impact of race and politics on a young nation struggling to create its identity, Salon Washington correspondent Morley (Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA) boldly and elegantly recreates a moment in time when free black businessmen mingled with their white counterparts while proponents of slavery and abolitionists struggled to co-exist in the nation’s bustling capital. Illus., map. Agent: req.

May 15, 2012
A sprightly social history of the convergence of pro- and anti-slavery agitators in the city of Washington during the explosive summer of 1835. The forces that would soon tear the country apart in civil war were already at work in Washington as President Andrew Jackson was away on vacation. Salon Washington correspondent Morley (Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA, 2008, etc.) ably weaves the many strands together: An enterprising restaurateur of mixed race found that his success aroused the ire of resentful white patrons; an impressionable young slave hoping to educate and free himself ran afoul of his white mistress; a Yankee abolitionist newly arrived in town disseminated incendiary emancipationist literature; and the famous author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," serving as Jackson's district attorney, pursued his job of punishing vice and enforcing slavery. By July 1835, news of a slave rebellion in Mississippi had already created unease among white Washingtonians. When the young slave Arthur Bowen broke into the bedroom of his mistress, Anna Thornton, in the middle of the night on August 5, inebriated and carrying an axe, the city exploded in rumor and fear. Bowen had apparently been influenced by the antislavery literature of New Yorker Reuben Crandall, whom Key subsequently arrested and charged with "attempting to excite an insurrection." A mob formed, threatening to lynch Bowen, and destroying much property, including mixed-race entrepreneur Beverly Snow's popular Epicurean Eating House. Despite Thornton's attempts to protect her beloved slave, Bowen was convicted and sentenced to hang. Morley alternates the characters and scenes of action for a suspenseful tale, culminating in the court of law where Key upheld the country's oppression of African-Americans and thereby helped shape the rancorous debate over slavery. His brother-in-law Roger Taney (whom Key supported to power) would become chief justice of the Supreme Court and author of the Dred Scott decision. Elegant and nimble history of a series of events likely unknown to many readers.

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June 15, 2012

Journalist Morley (Washington correspondent, Salon; Our Man in Mexico) presents the first book-length account of the 1835 Washington, DC, race riot that spotlighted the increasingly tense and complex relations among whites, free blacks, and slaves in the nation's capital. White rioters, enraged by freedom-seeking slave Arthur Bowen's attempted murder of his owner, took out their animosity on free blacks such as successful restaurateur and ex-slave Beverly Snow. Also caught up in the racial tensions in the aftermath of the Bowen incident was Reuben Crandell, a white Northerner charged with inciting slaves to revolt, and lawyer and author of the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner," Francis Scott Key, who, as Washington, DC, district attorney, prosecuted both Bowen and Crandell. VERDICT Morley convincingly fits the Bowen incident and its violent aftermath into the larger story of the growing antislavery movement. Unfortunately, his research leaves large gaps in the tale and includes far too much speculation to make it fully recommendable to an academic audience. History buffs, however, will likely be satisfied with this dramatic and well-written account of race relations in antebellum Washinton, DC, and the early days of the American abolitionist movement.--Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Libs., Columbia

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2012
The opening of mulatto former slave Beverly Snow's Epicurean Eating House in Washington City should have been a moment of national celebration. However, with the newly invented steam-driven cylinder press inundating the South with abolitionist tracts and Nat Turner's 1831 Southampton, Virginia, slave rebellion dominating the social discourse, even the most intriguing of Snow's culinary delights had no effect on the stifling environment of intolerance. When charges of attempted murder were brought against Ann Thornton's slave Arthur Brown, simmering tensions exploded, forcing many free blacks, such as Snow, to flee the capital of the Empire of Liberty. Morley's gripping, fast-paced narrative captures all the drama that encompasses a rich cast of characters that includes Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, Roger Taney, Sam Houston, and a host of others who inhabited the young nation's capital. Morley makes it abundantly clear that, at this pivotal moment in the nation's history, the rule of law was buckling under the realities of a slaveholding democracy, in which chances of freedom were rapidly diminishing and the tribunal of Judge Lynch reigned supreme. Morley has given readers a noteworthy, insightful look into an often overlooked chapter in American history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)