John Brown's holy war
(DVD) 

Special feature: Teacher's Guide [PDF format printable discussion guide, requires a DVD-ROM and Adobe Acrobat]; web links [text feature].

Editor, Leonard Feinstein ; cinematographer, Buddy Squires ; music, Mark Adler ; researcher, Melissa Adelson ; advisors: Paul Finkelman, Eric Foner, Dennis Frye, James O. Horton, Martin Kenner, Jean Libby, Stephen B. Oates, James Brewer Stewart, Geoffrey C. Ward.

Narrator, Joe Morton; commentators, Russell Banks, Bruce Olds, Margaret Washington, Dennis Frye, Edward J. Renehan Jr., James O. Horton, James Brewer Stewart, Paul Finkelman, Charles Joyner; reenactors, Bill Gaddy, Junius Harris, Jon Isaacson, Ed Merchand, Anndromita Moodie, Sherry Porter, James Wassel; voices, René Auberjonois, Melendy Britt, Scott Cleverdon, Richard Doyle, Barry Shabaka Henley, Harris Yulin.

Originally broadcast by PBS as an episode of the television series American experience on February 28, 2000.

On December 2, 1859, a tall, gaunt, fifty-nine-year-old man was executed in Virginia before 1500 armed guards. Just a month earlier, few had heard of John Brown, a red-faced, thread-bare, scare-crow of a man with wild reddish brown hair whose sky-blue eyes held a look that bespoke madness, who one terrible night in Kansas committed cold-blooded murder as he embarked on a violent crusade to end slavery. Now his name divided North from South. Was he a martyr or a madman, a fanatic or a hero? More than a century later, John Brown--who helped bring on the bloodiest American upheaval ever--remains one of America's most controversial and misunderstood figures.

MPAA Rating: Not rated.

DVD; Region 1, NTSC; stereo; full screen presentation, preserving the aspect ratio of the original television exhibition.

In English; closed-captioned.