Abiel Leonard: Yankee Slaveholder, Eminent Jurist, and Passionate Unionist

“. . . . a well researched and capably written scholarly biography that will be of interest and use to historians of 19th century American biography. . . . He presents authoritatively discussion, debate, and the intriguing bafflement that has characterized scholarship on Leonard whose influence far outweighed his visible presence in public office. . . . Boman understands that the most interesting biographies identify something like a mystery, or at least a conundrum, at the center of their subjects’ internal and/or external lives. In making the foregoing mystery about Leonard’s significance one of the underpinnings of this life, Boman articulates a curiosity and motivation for the biography, one that both justifies his project and successfully engages the reader. . . . The prose style is lucid and rhythmic, the architecture of the chapters sturdy, and the author’s decisions about how to integrate scholarly analysis and debate with a historical narrative adept. . . . a solid contribution to American biography, a thoughtfully conceived, well shaped, and serious piece of work that is also a pleasure to read.” – Catherine N. Parke

“Having consulted the necessary secondary and original materials and with good use of the extensive Leonard family papers and interviews with descendants, Dennis K. Boman has produced a very personal account of Abiel Leonard’s professional, business, and public life, all of which he sets within the framework of a detailed picture of the Leonard family life … Boman has produced a solid biography of Abiel Leonard and ably described the lifestyle of an upper-class family in central Missouri during the first forty years of statehood.” – The State Historical Society of Missouri

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