Theodore Weld, crusader for freedom

The present writer hopes that this first published biography of Theodore Weld will not only depict him as the appealing and extraordinary man that he was, but will also give the reader a new conception of the abolitionists. For we need a reappraisal of these people. It has too long been the fashion to scoff at them, to write them off as humorless fanatics, to ignore their rich humanity, and to minimize the tremendous impact of the moral convictions they avowed. -- Foreword.