Award-Winning Hudson Author Brings New Perspective to Life of John Brown at April Meeting

Hudson Heritage Association will welcome local author Joyce Dyer on April 10 when she will discuss the travels and research that provided the foundation for her latest work, Pursuing John Brown: On the Trail of a Radical Abolitionist. 

The book retraces John Brown’s journeys from Hudson across the country and asks essential questions about his life and his place in American history. Dyer plans to share many images that influenced her vision of John Brown, including both historical photographs and contemporary pictures tracing his life from Hudson to Dutch Henry Sherman’s Crossing at Lane, Kansas. Dyer notes that her book became a mix of many forms, including history, memoir, and travel writing, and adds that writing the book prompted her to ask and explore uneasy questions that took her off the traditional path of John Brown scholarship.

Pursuing John Brown: On the Trail of a Radical Abolitionist was a finalist for the 2023 Ohioana Book Award in nonfiction and an Honorable Mention winner in the annual “Best Civil War Books of 2022” contest sponsored by Civil War Monitor. Dyer’s other books include In a Tangled Wood: An Alzheimer’s Journey;  Gum-Dipped: A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town; Goosetown: Reconstructing an Akron Neighborhood; and From Curlers to Chainsaws: Women and Their Machines (co-editor). Her essays have appeared in North American Review and The New York Times. Dyer taught literature at Western Reserve Academy for 12 years and is Professor Emerita of English at Hiram College. She lives in Hudson. HHA’s April 10 program, to be held at Barlow Community Center, begins at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the presentation.