What is Thomas P. Slaughter reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Thomas P. Slaughter, Professor of History at the University of Rochester and author, most recently, of The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition (Hill & Wang, September 2008).

One item from his entry:

the Library of America volume Zuckerman Bound, which collects Phillip Roth’s trilogy from the 1980s.[read on]

Among the praise for Slaughter's The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition:

“A masterful biography... Any understanding of the history of social reform in America begins with Woolman, and understanding Woolman begins here.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A “superb narrative. . . In our own age of conspicuous consumption, the complex soul Slaughter so ably and beautifully resurrects is full of contemporary relevance as an example of principled living.”
—Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

A “thoughtful, scrupulous, enlightening, and engrossing masterpiece.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“Thomas Slaughter has accomplished the seemingly impossible task of rescuing a saint—here an Abolitionist Quaker saint—entombed merely in fame. This discerning, poetic biography discloses a Woolman far more powerful, both personally and morally, than even his famous Journal revealed. Few histories are more quietly riveting, more piercingly compelling. The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman is an amazing reconstruction of a daring human life.”
—Jon Butler, Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Yale University

Read more about The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition at the publisher's website.

Writers Read: Thomas P. Slaughter.

--Marshal Zeringue