The Journal of John Woolman and a Plea for the Poor

John Woolman was one of America's earliest abolitionists. (He died 3 years before the American Revolution began.) This journal, which covers his life from young manhood to just before his death, makes it clear that his entire social conscience was derived from his love of Jesus Christ and a concern to share that love with the world. Woolman would not have been popular in this day and age. He opposed all frivolity and ornamentation and espoused living in simplicity and order better keep one's mind and energies for God. However, his concern for native Americans, American slaves and the poor was admirable. The style is not difficult to follow, but the journal is oddly impersonal. (Woolman mentions his wife perhaps 5 times and never talks show more at all about how he feels about her or how she feels about his religious convictions.) Anyone concerned with social justice will find much to interest and inspire. show less