Damaged Souls by Gamaliel Bradford
"Damaged Souls" by Gamaliel Bradford presents a unique exploration of historical figures through a psychological lens, focusing on their spiritual and moral complexities rather than simply recounting their life stories. Bradford, often credited as a prominent "psychographer," delves into the nuanced inner lives of his subjects, offering insights into their flaws and virtues. The work emphasizes that these individuals, often stigmatized by public opinion, possess unique qualities that shape their actions and legacies.
Bradford's analysis includes figures such as Benedict Arnold, Thomas Paine, and Aaron Burr, examining their motivations and the societal perceptions that surround them. For instance, Arnold is portrayed as a deeply conflicted character whose personal struggles overshadow his valor, while Paine's rebellious spirit is framed in a context of altruism despite his chaotic lifestyle. The text also highlights the complexity of John Brown's fervent beliefs and the impact of Barnum's era on his worldview. Ultimately, "Damaged Souls" serves as a thoughtful critique of historical judgment, advocating for a more nuanced understanding of human nature and the intricate motivations that drive people's actions. It positions Bradford's work as a significant contribution to American biography and literature, promoting compassion and empathy in the face of flawed humanity.
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Subject Terms
Damaged Souls by Gamaliel Bradford
First published: 1923
Type of work: Biographies
Time of work: 1737-1893
Locale: America, England, Europe
Principal Personages:
Benedict Arnold Thomas Paine Aaron Burr John Randolph John Brown Phineas Taylor Barnum Benjamin Franklin Butler
Analysis
Though the reviews of the time were not unmixed, DAMAGED SOULS remains as the best book by Gamaliel Bradford and unique in the history of letters: a contribution to American history, biography, and literature. Although Taine is supposed to have originated the term, Bradford was the most active “psychographer.” His biographical studies are not so much life stories as spiritual silhouettes.
The introductory essay, applauded as a new departure, the model for interviews in depth, suggests that the souls of Bradford’s subjects are not damned, that each has a unique quality offset by a flaw. While H. L. Mencken suggested that only the first five are worthy of the sympathetic treatment, Barnum and Butler having insufficiently developed or callously overthrown souls, most critics accepted Bradford’s carefully documented verdicts on the minds and hearts he explores.
Bradford, admitting to prejudice, likens Arnold’s manly though misguided vigor and Burr’s personal though selfish charm to Paine’s and Barnum’s blatant and zealous natures. But in all those selected some kind of spiritual flaw appears to explain, even though it does not justify, the stigma that has determined the public reputations of these personages. Bradford’s main purpose, however, was not to stress the stigma but to show his people in their rounded and more human characters. Thus of Benedict Arnold, who abandoned the unfortunate Major Andre, who blackened his reputation for valorous, unselfish deeds, the reader gains an insight into his quixotic nature, his anger and feeling of slight, his physical needs, and his despair. The most telling irony concerns a meeting with Talleyrand in which Arnold dared not reveal himself.
Thomas Paine’s character was formed in rebellion, Bradford believes, and his restless nature and brilliant verbal insights formed a platform for vigorous action. His work was inspired by love of humanity rather than by the egoism so marked in his exterior. There is no reason why he did not advance in the cause of the poor and the downtrodden, though rebellion was his method and violence often the result. His exterior appearance, his slovenly habits and lack of cleanliness, his addiction to drink in a drinking age, only illumine his lack of selfish concern and his higher loyalties.
Aaron Burr, by contrast, had no ideals, but exhibited a most joyful, forthright nature. He indulged himself in the pleasures of companionship, especially that of women whom he found irresistible, and he lived off those who were drawn into his confidence and bewitched by his charm. His strange projects are to this day inexplicable, perhaps not even realized in the planning, though his “villainies” seem to be the result of lack of consideration. Burr’s love for his daughter and her tender but open-eyed concern for him form a kind of redemption. He carried no grudges, he gave generously if indiscriminately, and he looked to eternity and a god whom he believed kinder than most people give him credit for.
God’s angry man, John Brown, seems to Bradford the most complex of all since right is on both sides where Brown’s motives and actions are concerned. His intense and fanatical enthusiasm formed the glory and caused the damage. Barnum was the product of his age who honestly believed that humbug was a commodity, though he himself preferred the high things and practiced a warm-hearted cordiality. John Randolph, on the other hand, was the noblest of these flawed personages; his noble qualities of mind and spirit were undone by bad temper and exacerbated nerves, so that he had little influence for good. Benjamin Franklin Butler, the least engaging of the group as well as the most self-righteous, felt, in summation, that he had performed only good acts and those continually.
Gamaliel Bradford remains a persuasive advocate of restrained judgment, leaving to God the final decisions, as he whimsically suggests we must. To read deeply pro et contra was his technique, his formula to seek and display motive and drive; and his rhythm was that of his subject’s pulse. The result is Bergson’s elan vital brilliantly projected. Bradford’s gallery of portraits, finally, included whole and mended as well as damaged souls, and his books will remain in our relativist age as models.