Read-alikes and related books

Books like John Brown

If you loved John Brown by W. E. B. Du Bois, this shelf of 24 books shares the same pull — rooted in Social Activists, Civil War Period (1850-1877), 19th Century, and Cultural, Ethnic & Regional.

Social Activists Civil War Period (1850-1877) 19th Century Cultural, Ethnic & Regional African American & Black Political United States Historical Biography & Autobiography History

Top related books to John Brown

Each title here shares meaningful common ground with John Brown — in theme, mood, or literary style.

The Color of Abolition How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation

Linda Hirshman

Themes: Social Activists • Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave

Frederick Douglass

Themes: Social Activists • Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century

Profiles in Freedom Heroes Who Shaped America with a Foreword by Senator Markwayne Mullin

Carl Higbie

Themes: Social Activists • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

Medgar & Myrlie Medgar Evers and the Love Story that Awakened America

Joy-Ann Reid

Themes: Social Activists • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

Freedom Train The Story of Harriet Tubman

Dorothy Sterling

Themes: Social Activists • Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century

His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad

John P. Parker

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

The Highest Tribute Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership, and Legacy

Kekla Magoon

Themes: Social Activists • Civil War Period (1850-1877) • African American & Black

Young Trailblazers: the Book of Black Inventors and Scientists (Inventions by Black People, Black History for Kids, Children’s United States History)

M. J. Fievre

Themes: Social Activists • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

Lincoln’s Mentors The Education of a Leader

Michael J. Gerhardt

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • African American & Black

#10

Up from Slavery An Autobiography (Complete and Unabridged.)

Booker T. Washington

Themes: Social Activists • Civil War Period (1850-1877) • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#11

12 Years a Slave A Memoir of Kidnap, Slavery and Liberation

Solomon Northup

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#12

Forbidden Fruit Love Stories from the Underground Railroad

Betty DeRamus

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#13

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Frederick Douglass

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#14

Sojourner Truth A Life, a Symbol

Nell Irvin Painter

Themes: Social Activists • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#15

August Reckoning Jack Turner and Racism in Post-Civil War Alabama

William Warren Rogers

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#16

I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad

Karolyn Smardz Frost

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#17

The Hemingses of Monticello An American Family

Annette Gordon-Reed

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#18

Up from Slavery

Booker T. Washington

Themes: Social Activists • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#19

Twelve Years a Slave

Solomon Northup

Themes: Social Activists • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#20

Escape on the Pearl The Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Railroad

Mary Kay Ricks

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • 19th Century • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional

#21

Seven Miles to Freedom The Robert Smalls Story

Janet Halfmann

Themes: Civil War Period (1850-1877) • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black

#22

Malcolm X A Life of Reinvention

Manning Marable

Themes: Social Activists • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black

#23

The Seminarian Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age

Patrick Parr

Themes: Social Activists • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black

#24

White Lies The Double Life of Walter F. White and America’s Darkest Secret

Albert J. Baime

Themes: Social Activists • Cultural, Ethnic & Regional • African American & Black

If John Brown by W. E. B. Du Bois is on your shelf, these 24 titles belong there too. Connected by Social Activists, Civil War Period (1850-1877), 19th Century and selected for literary and thematic overlap. Featuring work by Linda Hirshman, Frederick Douglass, Carl Higbie, Joy-Ann Reid, and others.