I sort of remembered Turner from history class, but history class was a long time ago for me. Being a heretical librarian, I looked to Wikipedia for some background and context. That gives some info on the public response to the incident. There’s also a prominent message that the article needs some help, although it’s from 2009 and the article history indicates it has been heavily edited since then. Google brought me to a page from UNC’s Documenting the American South collection, which points out some controversy regarding the author’s motives. Encyclopedia Virginia explores this in more depth.
If we compare The American Bloody Register to Cotton Mather’s execution sermons, we would note that they were published for very different purposes. The Register was about making profits and Mather was about social control. The Confessions of Nat Turner seems to fall in between those, with a little of both.
