Shows / New Books in Revolutionary America
New Books in Revolutionary America
Revolutionary America features conversations with authors of new scholarship on the transformative era spanning the 1750s through the 1820s across the Americas. Featuring interviews that explore political upheaval, social change, and the many meanings of “revolution” in this period, the channel highlights work on independence movements, constitutional formations, imperial crises, and the lived experiences of diverse peoples navigating a rapidly changing world. Co-directed by Edward Blum and Amy…
Episodes
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge
When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
The Course of Human Events: The Declaration of Independence and the Historical Origins of the United States with Steven Sarson (U Virginia Press, 2025)
How reading the Declaration of Independence as a document of history explains its intended meaning Thomas Jefferson chose his words carefully. Few could have…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Jefferson’s Wolf: A Founding Father’s Troubling Answer to the Problem of Slavery with Christa Dierksheide and Nicholas Guyatt (Belknap Press, 2026)
In this episode, Matthew Mason (Professor of History at Brigham Young University) interviews Christa Dierksheide (Brockman Foundation Jefferson Scholars…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Revolutionary Ink: New York Printers and the Promise of Democracy, 1693-1804 with Mark J. Noonan (Cambridge UP, 2026)
In Revolutionary Ink: New York Printers and the Promise of Democracy, 1693-1804 (Cambridge UP, 2026), my guest Mark J. Noonan explores the careers of New York…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Declarations of Independence: Indigenous Resilience, Colonial Rivalries, and the Cost of Revolution with Christopher R. Pearl (U Virginia Press, 2024)
Chris Pearl's Declarations of Independence: Indigenous Resilience, Colonial Rivalries, and the Cost of Revolution (U Virginia Press, 2024) is a fascinating…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent with John William Nelson (UNC Press, 2023)
Edward Blum interviews John William Nelson, Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago’s Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent (UNC Press, 2023) In early…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution with Jesse Wegman (Celadon Books, 2026)
David N. Gellman interviews Jesse Wegman on The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People’s Constitution (Celadon Books, 2026). Jesse…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Creating an Informed Citizenry: Knowledge and Democracy in the Early American Republic with George D. Oberle (U Virginia Press, 2025)
When the founding fathers of the United States inaugurated a system of government that was unprecedented in the modern world, they knew that a functioning…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
The Centrality of Slavery: Empire and Enslavement in Colonial Illinois and Missouri with John Craig Hammond (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)
The Centrality of Slavery: Empire and Enslavement in Colonial Illinois and Missouri (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025) examines how French and American colonizers…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution with Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia (UNC Press, 2026)
Although Spain was never a formal ally of the United States during the American Revolution, its entry into the war definitively tipped the balance against…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Let the Oppressed Go Free: Abolitionism in Colonial and Revolutionary America with Nicholas P. Wood (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)
David N. Gellman interviews Nicholas P. Wood on Let the Oppressed Go Free: Abolitionism in Colonial and Revolutionary America In Let the Oppressed Go Free…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours with Peter S. Onuf and Francis D. Cogliano (Liveright, 2026)
“Does Thomas Jefferson still matter?” ask two leading historians on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson has been…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Matthew Mason, "Seeking the High Ground: Slavery and Political Conflict in the British Atlantic World" (U Virginia Press, 2025)
How is it, Samuel Johnson famously asked on the eve of the Revolution, that Americans could so vociferously demand freedom for themselves while so…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Katherine Grandjean, "Kingdom of Devils: A Tale of Murder in the Shadow of the American Revolution" (Random House, 2026)
Kentucky, 1798: A harrowing series of murders begins. The first body, discovered by cattle drovers, lies bloody at the bottom of a ridge. Then another—a dead…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
John Gilbert McCurdy, "Vicious and Immoral: Homosexuality, the American Revolution, and the Trials of Robert Newburgh" (JHU Press, 2024)
The fascinating story of a British army chaplain's buggery trial in 1774 reveals surprising truths about early America. On the eve of the American Revolution…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Mark Peterson, "The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution: A Thousand-Year History" (Princeton UP, 2026)
Edward Blum interviews Mark Peterson on his new book The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution: A Thousand-Year History. The American Revolution…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Patrick Griffin, "The Age of Atlantic Revolution: The Fall and Rise of a Connected World" (Yale UP, 2023)
David Gellman interviews Patrick Griffin on The Age of Atlantic Revolution: The Fall and Rise of a Connected World The Age of Atlantic Revolution was a…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Mélanie Lamotte, "By Flesh and Toil: How Sex, Race, and Labor Shaped the Early French Empire" (Harvard UP, 2026)
From the beginning of the seventeenth century, French colonies and trading posts sprawled across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In the first pan-imperial…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Holly N. S. White, "Constructing American Childhood: Age-Based Laws and the Illusion of Protection in the Early United States" (U Virginia Press, 2026)
Edward Blum interviews Holly White on her new book Constructing American Childhood: Age-Based Laws and the Illusion of Protection in the Early United States…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Kamau Ware, "Battle in the Margins: Black Experiences in New York City During the American Revolution" (Black Gotham Experience)
While Lexington and Concord claim significance as the sites of the American Revolution’s opening battles, New York City’s geography, population density, and…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Eran A. Zelnik, "American Laughter, American Fury: Humor and the Making of a White Man's Democracy, 1750–1850" (JHU Press, 2025)
A joke is never just a joke—not even in the eighteenth century. In American Laughter, American Fury: Humor and the Making of a White Man's Democracy, 1750–1850…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Jamie L. Brummitt, "Protestant Relics in Early America" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Edward Blum interviews Dr. Jamie L. Brummitt on how new book Protestant Relics in Early America. In Protestant Relics in Early America (Oxford UP, 2025)…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Eran Shalev, "The Star-Spangled Republic: Political Astronomy and the Rise of the American Constellation" (U Virginia Press, 2025)
Why does the American flag use stars to represent the states? In The Star-Spangled Republic: Political Astronomy and the Rise of the American Constellation…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Arturo Chang, "A New World of Revolutions: Popular Imaginations and Movements Across the Americas" (Princeton UP, 2026)
In A New World of Revolutions: Popular Imaginations and Movements Across the Americas (Princeton UP, 2026), Arturo Chang reconstructs the histories, politics…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Edward E. Andrews, "Newport Gardner's Anthem: A Story of Slavery, Struggle, and Survival in Early America" (Cornell UP, 2025)
Newport Gardner's Anthem: A Story of Slavery, Struggle, and Survival in Early America (Cornell UP, 2025) explores the remarkable life of Occramer Marycoo, an…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
David N. Gellman, "Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York" (Cornell UP, 2022)
Edward Blum interviews David N. Gellman on his book Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York (Cornell UP, 2022). In Liberty's…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Emily Sneff, "When the Declaration of Independence Was News" (Oxford UP, 2026)
Amy Weitzman interviews Emily Sneff on her new book When the Declaration of Independence Was News and the graduate school experience. In 1776 people could hear…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Linford Fisher, "Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in U.S. History" (Liveright, 2026)
Although the first enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1619, European slavery in America began more than a century before. In a work distinguished not…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Richard Bell, "The American Revolution and the Fate of the World" (Penguin, 2025)
Matthew Mason (Professor of History at Brigham Young University) chatted with Richard Bell (Professor of History at the University of Maryland) about his new…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Robert G Parkinson, "Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier" (Norton, 2024)
We are divided over the history of the United States, and one of the central dividing lines is the frontier. Was it a site of heroism? Or was it where the full…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Lauren Duval, "The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence" (UNC Press, 2025)
What was it like to live in a city experiencing occupation by a foreign army? What did it mean when a family had to quarter an officer in their home? More…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory
In Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory (UNC Press, 2026), historian John Garrison Marks tells the story…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Arpan Roy, "Relative Strangers: Romani Kinship and Palestinian Difference" (U Toronto Press, 2025)
Examining how memory, intergenerational transmission, and kinship work together, Relative Strangers: Romani Kinship and Palestinian Difference (U Toronto…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
James Giesler, "Francisco de Saavedra's American Revolutionary War, The Spanish Contribution to the Battle of Yorktown" (James Giesler, 2025)
Francisco de Saavedra’s American Revolutionary War: The Spanish Contribution to the Battle of Yorktown (James Giesler, 2025) by James Giesler is the story of…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Jeremy Black, "The Revolutionary War" (St. Augustine's Press, 2026)
Military historian Jeremy Black follows his engagement with the American Civil War (St. Augustine's Press, 2025) with a review of the Revolutionary War in…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Tim Seiter, "Wrangling Pelicans: Military Life in Texas Presidios" (U Texas Press, 2025)
A richly detailed history of daily life for colonial Spanish soldiers surviving on the eighteenth-century Texas Gulf Coast. In 1775, Spanish King Carlos III…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Ronald Angelo Johnson, "Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution" (Cornell UP, 2025)
Entangled Alliances is a reinterpretation of the American Revolution through analysis of diplomacy in the emerging United States during decades of hemispheric…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Zara Anishanslin, "The Painter's Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution" (Harvard UP, 2025)
The war that we now call the American Revolution was not only fought in the colonies with muskets and bayonets. On both sides of the Atlantic, artists armed…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
I Have Avenged America: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti’s Fight for Freedom
“My name has become a horror to all those who want slavery,” declared Jean‑Jacques Dessalines as he announced the independence of Haiti, the most radical…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe
Henry Christophe was born to an enslaved mother on the Caribbean island of Grenada, and fought to overthrow the British in North America before helping his…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Friederike Baer, "Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War" (Oxford UP, 2022)
Between 1776 and 1783, Britain hired an estimated 30,000 German soldiers to fight in its war against the Americans. Collectively known as Hessians, they…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
John William Nelson, "Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent" (UNC Press, 2023)
The birchbark canoe is among the most remarkable Indigenous technologies in North America, facilitating mobility throughout the watery world of the Great Lakes…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
James R. Fichter, "Tea: Consumption, Politics, and Revolution, 1773–1776" (Cornell UP, 2023)
In Tea: Consumption, Politics, and Revolution, 1773–1776 (Cornell University Press, 2023), Dr. James R. Fichter reveals that despite the so-called Boston Tea…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Jacqueline Beatty, "In Dependence: Women and the Patriarchal State in Revolutionary America" (NYU Press, 2023)
Patriarchal forces of law, finance, and social custom restricted women’s rights and agency in revolutionary America. Yet women in this period exploited these…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Benjamin L. Carp, "The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution" (Yale UP, 2023)
New York City, the strategic center of the Revolutionary War, was the most important place in North America in 1776. That summer, an unruly rebel army under…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Mally Becker, "The Counterfeit Wife: A Revolutionary War Mystery" (Level Best Books, 2022)
Today I talked to Mally Becker about her new book The Counterfeit Wife: A Revolutionary War Mystery (Level Best Books, 2022). Philadelphia, June 1780. George…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Eric Jay Dolin, "Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution" (Liveright, 2022)
The bestselling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters reclaims the daring freelance sailors who proved essential to the winning of the Revolutionary War. The…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Jeffers Lennox, "North of America: Loyalists, Indigenous Nations, and the Borders of the Long American Revolution" (Yale UP, 2022)
The story of the Thirteen Colonies’ struggle for independence from Britain is well known to every American schoolchild. But at the start of the Revolutionary…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
NBN Classic: Rachel B. Herrmann, "No Useless Mouth: Waging War and Fighting Hunger in the American Revolution" (Cornell UP, 2019)
This episode proved remarkably popular, so we're reposting it as an NBN classic for those who missed it the first time. When the British explored the Atlantic…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Joseph J. Ellis, "The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783" (Liveright, 2021)
In one of the most “exciting and engaging” (Gordon S. Wood) histories of the American founding in decades, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Joseph J. Ellis…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Carolyn Eastman, "The Strange Genius of Mr. O.: The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity" (UNC Press, 2021)
The Strange Genius of Mr. O.: The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity (Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Karen Cook Bell, "Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America" (Cambridge UP, 2021)
In this episode you’ll hear about: how Black women contributed to America’s first freedom war, reading against the grain, rival geographies, fugitivity as an…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Katherine Carté, "Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History" (UNC Press, 2021)
For most of the eighteenth century, British protestantism was driven neither by the primacy of denominations nor by fundamental discord between them. Instead…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Michael Hattem, "Past and Prologue: Politics and Memory in the American Revolution" (Yale UP, 2020)
Michael Hattem’s Past and Prologue: Politics and Memory in the American Revolution (Yale, 2020) is a fascinating new look at how eighteenth-century Americans…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Kevin Weddle, "The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution" (Oxford UP, 2021)
British hopes that the American War for Independence would be brought to a swift conclusion began to wane in the early months of 1777. Despite brilliant…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Erica Armstrong Dunbar, "Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge" (Simon and Schuster, 2017)
A startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge (Simon and…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Stanley D. M. Carpenter, "Southern Gambit: Cornwallis and the British March to Yorktown" (U Oklahoma Press, 2019)
Charles Lord Cornwallis’s campaign through the southern American colonies came to an ignominious close on October 19, 1781, on an open field outside Yorktown…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
David Head, "A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution" (Pegasus Books, 2019)
In March 1783, George Washington confronted a meeting of disgruntled Continental Army officers at their encampment at Newburgh, New York. In his book A Crisis…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Stephen R. Taaffe, "Washington’s Revolutionary War Generals" (U Oklahoma Press, 2019)
When George Washington led the United States to victory in the American Revolution, he did so in collaboration with seventy-three other men who served as major…
- New Books in Revolutionary America
Jonathan Gienapp, "The Second Creation: Fixing the American Constitution in the Founding Era" (Harvard UP, 2018)
In his book, The Second Creation: Fixing the American Constitution in the Founding Era (Harvard University Press, 2018), Jonathan Gienapp revisits the Founding…