Charles Follen's Search for Nationality and Freedom

“Spevak has written the first comprehensive biography of Charles Follen… [It] is clearly written; his perceptive analysis places Follen in the broadest context; and his research is superb. The 48 pages of notes reflect Spevak’s extensive work in primary sources in Europe and the U.S. Highly recommended for research collections and those with special emphasis on 19th-century American social reform, Unitarianism, and abolitionist thought.”—R. Detweiler, Choice

“Apart from its detailed attention to political and personal relationships among German activist groups, Spevack’s method is primarily an intellectual history that draws on careful reading of key texts. Follen’s draft constitution for a united Germany, his nationalist poetry, his lectures as professor of German language and literature at Harvard, and his theological and antislavery essays come in for close scrutiny, as do many other works by Follen and thinkers he read.”—Thomas J. Brown, Journal of the Early Republic

“A sweeping and fascinating description and analysis of the intellectual and political connections between two cultures [Germany and America] in the early nineteenth century.”—Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside