A Renegade History of the United States - Softcover

Thaddeus Russell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847398642 ISBN 13: 9781847398642

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2011

Synopsis

Historian Thaddeus Russell offers a provocative and absorbing perspective on America's history. He argues that drunkards, laggards, prostitutes, and pirates were the real heroes of the American Revolution and that slaves worked less and had more fun than free men.

About this title

About the Author:

Thaddeus Russell teaches history and American Studies at Occidental College and has taught at Columbia University, Barnard College, Eugene Lang College, and the New School for Social Research. Born and raised in Berkeley, California, he graduated from Antioch College and received a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. His first book, Out of the Jungle: Jimmy Hoffa and the Re-Making of the American Working Class, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2001. He is a frequent contributor to the Daily Beast and has published articles in New York Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Salon, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as scholarly essays in American Quarterly and the Columbia History of Post-World War II America. He has also appeared on the History Channel and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Review:

"Raucous, profane, and thrillingly original, Thaddeus Russell's "A Renegade History of the United States" turns the myths of the 'American character' on their heads with a rare mix of wit, scholarship, and storytelling flair." - Steven Johnson, author of "Everything Bad is Good for You" and "The Invention of Air"

“Thaddeus Russell’s "A Renegade History of The United States" is a work of history like no other—a bold, controversial, original view of American history that will amuse, inspire, outrage, and most of all instruct readers. Russell strips away conventional wisdom and explodes many myths. In the process, he sheds new light on ideas, institutions, and people.”

- Alan Brinkley, Allan Nevins Professor of History, Columbia University, and author of "The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century" and "American History: A Survey"

“Thaddeus Russell is a trouble-maker for sure. Whether you call his book courageous or outrageous, his helter-skelter tour through the American past will make you gasp and make you question—as he does—the writing of ‘history as usual.’”

- Nancy Cott, Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, Harvard University, and author of "Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation" and "The Grounding of Modern Feminism"

“"A Renegade History of the United States" takes us on a tour of backstreet America, introducing us to the rebels and prostitutes, the hipsters and hippies. The book tells good stories, all in the cause of illuminating larger historical struggles between social control and freedom, repression and letting go. Author Thaddeus Russell gives us a new pantheon of American heroes, and argues that those who expanded the realm of desire—for sex, for drugs, for illicit experiences—were the very ones who created our liberties. This is a controversial book, but certainly not a dull one.”

-Elliott Gorn, Professor of American Civilization and History, Brown University, and author of "Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One"

“Howard Zinn wrote the "‘People's History’ of the United States". But Thaddeus Russell has written the history of the American People Whom Historians Would Rather Forget: the whores, delinquents, roustabouts—the so-called bums and immoral minority who did more for our civil rights and personal freedoms than anyone could count—until now. There is no understanding of American feminism, sexual liberation, civil rights, or dancing in the streets without this careful analysis that Russell has put before us.”

-Susie Bright, syndicated columnist, author of "The Sexual State of the Union", and series editor, "Best American Erotica"

“Thaddeus Russell has broken free of the ideological prisons of Left and Right to give us a real, flesh-and-blood history of America, filled with untold stories and unlikely heroes. No waving incense before the sacred personages of Washington, D.C. here. This wonderful book follows the best American traditions of iconoclasm and—what is the same thing—truth-telling.”

- Thomas E. Woods, Jr., author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History"

"It's always fascinating spending time with a devil's advocate, and Russell is one of the best. You'll shout at this book endlessly, but you won't be able to put it down, for it's chock full of startling, upsetting, and entertaining anecdotes" --The Scotsman

This is a fun read that makes a serious point. Even drunkards, whores, black pleasure-seekers, gangsters, and drag queens have contributed to American culture, and sometimes in surprising ways. --W. J. Rorabaugh, professor of history, University of Washington and author of "The Alcoholic Republic"

"[A] rollicking and sure-to-be-controversial history of our great nation..." --"Metro-Boston"

"Thaddeus Russell's "A Renegade History of The United States" is a work of history like no other--a bold, controversial, original view of American history that will amuse, inspire, outrage, and most of all instruct readers. Russell strips away conventional wisdom and explodes many myths. In the process, he sheds new light on ideas, institutions, and people."

- Alan Brinkley, Allan Nevins Professor of History, Columbia University, and author of "The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century" and "American History: A Survey"

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1847398642
• ISBN 13: 9781847398642
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400