Since the first thing I saw this morning was a scandalous New York Times editorial that dramatically misrepresented the history of the American Revolution and its relationship to the French revolution, I thought it would be a good idea to post some recommendations of books that show a different side of the American Revolution and the "Age of Revolutions" more generally.
Let's get the party started:
Some of the best books on the American Revolution start with an analysis of the social conflict and popular demonstrations among the era's workers, both enslaved and free and how they pushed the colonies toward independence. Probably the most influential of these works is Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker's Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic which describes revolts by sailors and dock-workers across the Atlantic from the 1600s through the French Revolution.
The most classic work on the subject of 18th century radicalism and its relevance for modern politics is C.LR. James' brilliant Black Jacobins. This book is more focused on the Haitian and French Revolutions, but it places the American war of independence in the context of the Atlantic slave trade and provides the underlying perspective that explains much of the more grounded work on the 18th century Atlantic world today.
Edward Countryman, whose work was the subject of a round-table of historians in the William and Mary Quarterly in 1996, is another historian whose work emphasizes class differences and contrasting agendas of the groups who participated in the American war for independence and the transformation to the early Republic. His most frequently assigned work is The American Revolution which is now out in a new edition.
An equally important classic is Benjamin Quarles' study, The Negro in the American Revolution, recently reissued by the UNC press. I learned a great deal from this book when I was preparing to teach African American history before 1865 for the first time after I had just finished by PhD.
For a very recent work by an anthropologist about the legacy of the revolution for Black Americans, see Mitch Kachun's new book on the memory of Crispus Attucks, First Martyr of Liberty I haven't read this one yet, but it looks full of fascinating material. Here he is being interviewed on the New Books Network
Other historians who have moved beyond staid representations of founders made of marble include Annette Gordon-Reid, Woody Holton, Jean H. Baker, Gary Nash, Jeff Pasley, and Dana Frank, whose book on boycotts and economic nationalism in the revolutionary era may have new relevance in the age of Trump.
Let's get the party started:
Some of the best books on the American Revolution start with an analysis of the social conflict and popular demonstrations among the era's workers, both enslaved and free and how they pushed the colonies toward independence. Probably the most influential of these works is Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker's Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic which describes revolts by sailors and dock-workers across the Atlantic from the 1600s through the French Revolution.
The most classic work on the subject of 18th century radicalism and its relevance for modern politics is C.LR. James' brilliant Black Jacobins. This book is more focused on the Haitian and French Revolutions, but it places the American war of independence in the context of the Atlantic slave trade and provides the underlying perspective that explains much of the more grounded work on the 18th century Atlantic world today.
Edward Countryman, whose work was the subject of a round-table of historians in the William and Mary Quarterly in 1996, is another historian whose work emphasizes class differences and contrasting agendas of the groups who participated in the American war for independence and the transformation to the early Republic. His most frequently assigned work is The American Revolution which is now out in a new edition.
An equally important classic is Benjamin Quarles' study, The Negro in the American Revolution, recently reissued by the UNC press. I learned a great deal from this book when I was preparing to teach African American history before 1865 for the first time after I had just finished by PhD.
For a very recent work by an anthropologist about the legacy of the revolution for Black Americans, see Mitch Kachun's new book on the memory of Crispus Attucks, First Martyr of Liberty I haven't read this one yet, but it looks full of fascinating material. Here he is being interviewed on the New Books Network
Other historians who have moved beyond staid representations of founders made of marble include Annette Gordon-Reid, Woody Holton, Jean H. Baker, Gary Nash, Jeff Pasley, and Dana Frank, whose book on boycotts and economic nationalism in the revolutionary era may have new relevance in the age of Trump.
Thanks for listing these books. I plan to follow up! xxxme
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