Book Club’s next read is “The Great Abolitionist” by Stephen Puleo

Reading Club

Join the live author discussion on May 22 at 6 p.m.

In the mid-19th century, Congress was not unlike what it is today: polarized along partisan lines over the nation’s future. At the center of the division of that era was the issue of slavery, and the debate was so fierce that it led to one of the most shocking moments in American history.

On May 22, 1856, Preston Brooks, a representative from South Carolina, entered the Senate chamber and severely beat Senator Charles Sumner with a gold-hooded cane in retaliation for an abolitionist speech Sumner had given days before.

Sumner, an outspoken abolitionist and Bostonian, would survive the attack and continue to advocate for civil rights throughout the Civil War, Reconstruction and beyond. His life and political legacy are the subject of the Boston.com Book Club’s upcoming reading, “The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Struggle for a More Perfect Union” by Stephen Puleo.

Although he was a great civil rights activist and one of the great Bostonians of his time, few historians have looked in depth at Sumner’s story. Our May book selection is the first major biography of this pioneering politician to be published in half a century.

“Charles Sumner was a man of principle, of unwavering conviction, who waged a good, noble and heroic fight against slavery, and he deserves to be remembered as a great statesman and one of the greatest defenders of civil rights. He also deserves a compelling and wonderfully written biography, which Stephen Puleo has provided,” said Eric Jay Dolin, author of “Left for Dead” and “Black Flags, Blue Waters,” praising the book.

Puleo is an author and historian who has written nearly a dozen books, including several on the history of Boston. You may know his name from “A City So Grand,” about Boston in the second half of the 19th century, or “Dark Tide,” his book about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. He has also previously written about Sumner in his 2012 book, “The Caning: The Assault That Brought America to Civil War.”

In the new book, Puleo pulls back the lens to examine Sumner’s life beyond this transformative event. He wrote a detailed account of Sumner’s life before his political office as well as his involvement in abolition, protection of the rights of emancipated people during Reconstruction, and other equal rights issues.

Kirkus Reviews said the new biography is “required reading for anyone with even the slightest interest in the history of the United States during the Civil War era.” A wonderfully written book about a true American freedom fighter.

Puleo will be joined by Kathleen “Totsie” McGonagle, events manager at Buttonwood Books and Toys. The Cohasset Bookstore has been serving its community for over three decades as an independent store for everyone from young children to adults. McGonagle is a bookworm who spread the joy of literacy as a librarian and bookseller. As Buttonwood’s events manager, she spearheads a long list of author talks for the bookstore, including a series of coffee hours and light bites with books.

Join the conversation with Stephen Puleo and Totsie McGonagle as they discuss his new book “The Great Abolitionist” on May 22 at 6 p.m.

Buy “The Great Abolitionist” on: Library | Buttonwood Books and Toys