BORDER HAWK

Anshl Bondi left Vienna with his family after participating in the rebellion against Metternich. This second book in the Covenant Series, a biographical series recording the contributions of Jewish Americans to our national history, follows his efforts to establish Kansas as a free state. Bondi changed his first name to August, became silent partner in a store, which was raided by ruffians, and was a friend and supporter of John Brown, the "Old Man" of Osawotomi, who ultimately was hanged for his insurrectionist seizure of Harper's Ferry arsenal. Bondi's own experiences of tyranny in Viennese ghettos sparked an undying sympathy for the underdog. Though the author might have spelled out a little more clearly the political ramifications of the proslavery massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, and Brown's vengeful retaliatory slaughter of five at Pottawatomie, the subject and events are complex. In a sense Brown takes the story away from Bondi. In a series of this kind, it is important to develop the relationship between a man's faith and his deeds. To serve the purposes of later books in the series, we hope there will be clearer depiction of the sources of the hero's values.