Best of
18th-Century

2020

The Lost Orphan


Stacey Halls - 2020
    . .London, 1754. Six years after leaving her newborn, Clara, at London't Foundling Hospital, young Bess Bright returns to reclaim the illegitimate daughter she has never really known. Dreading the worst - that Clara has died in care - the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.Les than a mile from Bess' lodgings in a quiet town house, a wealthy widow barely ventures outside. When her close friend - an ambitious doctor at the Foundling Hospital - persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her young daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her - and will soon tear her carefully constructed world apart.Set against the vibrant backdrop of Georgian London, 'THE LOST ORPHAN' explores families and secrets, class and power, and how the pull of motherhood cuts across them all.©2020 Stacey Halls (P)2020 Harlequin Audio

The Foundling


Stacey Halls - 2020
    Dreading the worst - that Clara has died in care - the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed - by her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why. Less than a mile from Bess' lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house in a decade. When her close friend - an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital - persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.From the bestselling author of The Familiars, and set against the vibrant backdrop of Georgian London, The Foundling explores families, secrets, class, equality, power and the meaning of motherhood.

American Rebels: How the Hancock, Adams, and Quincy Families Fanned the Flames of Revolution


Nina Sankovitch - 2020
    Raised as loyal British subjects who quickly saw the need to rebel, their collaborations against the Crown and Parliament were formed years before the revolution and became stronger during the period of rising taxes and increasing British troop presence in Boston. Together, the families witnessed the horrors of the Boston Massacre, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill; the trials and tribulations of the Siege of Boston; meetings of the Continental Congress; transatlantic missions for peace and their abysmal failures; and the final steps that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.American Rebels explores how the desire for independence cut across class lines, binding people together as well as dividing them—rebels versus loyalists—as they pursued commonly-held goals of opportunity, liberty, and stability. Nina Sankovitch's new book is a fresh history of our revolution that makes readers look more closely at Massachusetts and the small town of Braintree when they think about the story of America’s early years.

The American Puritans


Dustin W. Benge - 2020
    Table of Contents: Introduction: Who Are the American Puritans? 1. William Bradford 2. John Winthrop 3. John Cotton 4. Thomas Hooker 5. Thomas Shepard 6. Anne Bradstreet 7. John Eliot 8. Samuel Willard 9. Cotton Mather

The Darkest Shore


Karen Brooks - 2020
    After all, this is a country where myth and legend are woven into the fabric of the everyday, a time when those who defy custom like Sorcha has are called to account.It is dangerous to be a clever woman who 'doesn't know her place' in Pittenweem - a town rife with superstition. So, when a young local falls victim to witchcraft, the Reverend Cowper and the townsfolk know who to blame. What follows for Sorcha and her friends is a terrifying battle, not only for their souls, but for their lives, as they are pitted against the villagers' fear, a malevolent man and the might of the church.Based on the shocking true story of the witch hunt of Pittenweem, this multi-layered novel is a beautifully written historical tale of the strength of women united against a common foe, by one of Australia's finest writers.'Meticulously researched and historically compelling... this fast-paced novel is a dramatic spy thriller that shines a spotlight on the inner workings of Elizabethan England.' - BOOKS+PUBLISHING on The Locksmith's Daughter

A Cord of Three Strands


Christy Distler - 2020
    He’s failed to find the families of his birth parents, a French trader and a Lenape woman. Worse, the tribe he’s lived with, having rejected his peacemaking efforts, now ravages frontier settlements in retaliation. When he arrives in the Quaker community where he was reared, questions taunt him: Who is he—white man or Lenape? And where does he belong?Elisabeth Alden, Isaac’s dearest childhood friend, is left to tend her young siblings alone upon her father’s death. Despite Isaac’s promise to care for her and the children, she battles resentment toward him for having left, while an unspeakable tragedy and her discordant courtship with a prominent Philadelphian weigh on her as well. Elisabeth must marry or lose guardianship of her siblings, and her options threaten the life with her and the children that Isaac has come to love. Faced with Elisabeth’s hesitancy to marry, the prospect of finding his family at last, and the opportunity to assist in the peace process between Pennsylvania and its Indian tribes, Isaac must determine where—and with whom—he belongs.

Nemesis and the Swan


Lindsay K. Bandy - 2020
    Though her family tries to intervene, the seeds of revolution have already been planted in Hélène's heart, as are the seeds of love from an unlikely friendship with a young jeweler's apprentice. Hélène's determination to find true love is as revolutionary as her attempt to unravel the truth behind a chilling set of eye-shaped brooches and the concealed murder that tore her family apart.As violence erupts in Paris, Hélène is forced into hiding with her estranged family, where the tangled secrets of their past become entwined with her own. When she finally returns to the blood-stained streets of Paris, she finds everything-and everyone-very much changed. In a city where alliances shift overnight, no one knows who to trust.Faced with looming war, the mystery of her family's past, and the man she loves near death, Hélène will soon will find out if doing one wrong thing will make everything right, or if it will simply push her closer to the guillotine.

Rakes & Rebels: The Raveneau Family, Collection One


Cynthia Wright - 2020
    Raveneau sardonically agrees to deliver her to her childhood sweetheart in Virginia but doesn’t count on his own potent attraction to the enchanting, courageous Devon. HER HUSBAND, THE RAKE -“And they lived happily ever after...” Or did they?Can a rake like André Raveneau truly be tamed into a domesticated husband and father...or is he a pacing tiger, destined to break free of his cage?Come into the Raveneaus’ Connecticut home, as Devon struggles to balance the needs of her little children with the demands of her restless, hot-blooded husband. When two people reappear from the past, St. Valentine’s Day becomes a time of reckoning for André and Devon Raveneau.

Tacky's Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War


Vincent Brown - 2020
    In this contentious atmosphere, a movement of enslaved West Africans in Jamaica (then called Coromantees) organized to throw off that yoke by violence.Their uprising—which became known as Tacky’s Revolt—featured a style of fighting increasingly familiar today: scattered militias opposing great powers, with fighters hard to distinguish from noncombatants. It was also part of a more extended borderless conflict that spread from Africa to the Americas and across the island. Even after it was put down, the insurgency rumbled throughout the British Empire at a time when slavery seemed the dependable bedrock of its dominion. That certitude would never be the same, nor would the views of black lives, which came to inspire both more fear and more sympathy than before.Tracing the roots, routes, and reverberations of this event across disparate parts of the Atlantic world, Vincent Brown offers us a superb geopolitical thriller. Tacky’s Revolt expands our understanding of the relationship between European, African, and American history, as it speaks to our understanding of wars of terror today.

The London Monster


Donna Scott - 2020
    But his vigilante actions lead to him being mistaken for the most terrifying criminal of all.Assistance arrives in the form of Sophie Carlisle, a young journalist with dreams of covering a big story, though she is forced to masquerade as a man to do it. Trapped in an engagement to a man she doesn’t love, Sophie yearns to break free to tell stories that matter about London’s darker side—gaming, prostitution, violence—and realizes Tom could be the one to help. Together, they come up with a plan.Straddling the line between his need for vengeance and the need to hide his true identity as a politician's son becomes increasingly difficult as Tom is pressured to win more fights. The more he wins, the more notoriety he receives, and the greater the chance his identity may be exposed—a revelation that could jeopardize his father’s political aspirations and destroy his family’s reputation. Sophie is also in danger as hysteria spreads and the attacks increase in severity and frequency. No one knows who to trust, and no one is safe—Tom included, yet he refuses to end the hunt.Little does he realize, the monster is also hunting him.

The Tsarina's Lost Treasure: Catherine the Great, a Golden Age Masterpiece, and a Legendary Shipwreck


Gerald Easter - 2020
    The vessel was delivering a dozen Dutch masterpiece paintings to Europe’s most voracious collector: Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. Among the lost treasures was The Nursery, an oak-paneled triptych by Leiden fine painter Gerrit Dou, Rembrandt’s most brilliant student and Holland’s first international superstar artist. Dou’s triptych was long the most beloved and most coveted painting of the Dutch Golden Age, and its loss in the shipwreck was mourned throughout the art world.  Vrouw Maria, meanwhile, became a maritime legend, confounding would-be salvagers for more than two hundred years. In July 1999, a daring Finnish wreck hunter found Vrouw Maria, upright on the sea floor and perfectly preserved. The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure masterfully recounts the fascinating tale of Vrouw Maria—her loss and discovery—weaving together the rise and fall of the artist whose priceless masterpiece was the jewel of the wreckage. Gerald Easter and Mara Vorhees bring to vivid life the personalities that drove (and are still driving) this compelling tale, evoking Robert Massie’s depiction of Russian high politics and culture, Simon Schama’s insights into Dutch Golden Age art and art history, Gary Kinder’s spirit of, danger and adventure  on the beguiling Archipelago Sea.

Eating the Empire: Food and Society in Eighteenth-Century Britain


Troy Bickham - 2020
    Bickham reveals how trade in the empire’s edibles underpinned the emerging consumer economy, fomenting the rise of modern retailing, visual advertising, and consumer credit, and, via taxes, financed the military and civil bureaucracy that secured, governed, and spread the British Empire.

A Smuggler's Heart


Danielle Thorne - 2020
    There are even whispers the Savannah coast is home to the deadly pirate, Alligator George, but Christine Fryer needs a peaceful escape from her father's disapproving stare.Captain Nathaniel Butler knows it's time to put his smuggling operation to bed now that the American Revolution is over and won. He just needs to sail one last expedition to pay off his remaining debt, but his plans are threatened by the meddlesome sister of his best friend.As Savannah society brings a privileged young woman and a man desperate for success together, the marsh will reveal their secrets—and their hearts. Christine will do anything to stop the rogue captain from influencing and ruining her brother, but she never expects the crew of Alligator George is watching and waiting...

America's Long Struggle against Slavery


Richard Bell - 2020
    Resistance from the enslaved started on the western coast of Africa in the 15th century and continued as the institution of slavery was codified in America, culminating with the War between the States.This 300-year struggle has too often been glossed over by history books enamored with American ingenuity, Manifest Destiny, and tales of Revolutionary freedom. But to understand America - to fully understand our country today - one must examine the whole history of struggle, oppression, and resistance, not only by famous figures like Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman, but also by an enormous and often unfamiliar cast of characters, including:The “saltwater slaves” who revolted aboard slave ships; Phibbah Thistlewood, a woman who made the best of her situation to bridge the gap between her master and her fellow slaves; David Walker, Nat Turner, and other figures calling for immediate, urgent action; andNorthern Quakers who changed the political tide. What these disparate figures had in common was they gradually coalesced into a movement. Individuals gradually organized, and then the abolitionist movement led to war which led, in theory, to freedom. America’s Long Struggle Against Slavery is your chance to survey the history of the American anti-slavery movement, from the dawn of the transatlantic slave trade during the late 15th century to the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and beyond. Taught by Professor Richard Bell of the University of Maryland, these 30 eye-opening lectures give you an up-close view of a venal institution and the people who fought against it - and who often paid for their courage with their lives.This Great Course is a must-have for scholars and history buffs alike. As Professor Bell examines the different means and methods that Americans, white and black, have used to escape slavery, he presents the grand problems that animated everyone engaged in this great struggle.

A Thimbleful of Honor


Linda Lee Graham - 2020
    . . intriguing until the end" ~ Kirkus Reviews"With two multilayered protagonists and a strong foundation laid for sequels, this eloquent mix of historical fiction and romance will appeal to fans of both genres." ~ BookLife ReviewsBefore his father offered to shelter Wylie's two sons, nothing could lure Wylie Macpherson back to Scotland. But after a bitter twenty-five-year exile, his homecoming proves even harder than anticipated. Instead of the scorn he expected, he's faced with the relief of a struggling village long awaiting his return. All Wylie wants is to retreat to his ship, yet the tug of his memories and responsibilities is difficult to ignore.Having lost one man to the sea, Anna Macrae is cynical of men chasing dreams across oceans when everything one could want—family, community, friends—can be found in the Highlands. Though preoccupied hiding her father's infirmity while managing his business in his stead, she can't help but notice Wylie's sons need a parent, and their father is too absorbed in his own grief and anger to notice. As she grows close to them, her traitorous heart begins to spin fantasies of a life not meant to be.Blindsided by a barrage of painful memories, Wylie pays little heed to the heat building between himself and Anna until he finds he can think of nothing else. Will he flee once again, or will he fight one more battle to claim the sweetest of prizes?A poignant story of love, loss, and coming home, A Thimbleful of Honor is set in the heart of Scotland's Highlands, twenty-five years after the 1745 Jacobite rebellion.

Formation: The Making of Nigeria From Jihad to Amalgamation


Fola Fagbule - 2020
    Formation challenges the orthodox understanding of Nigeria’s past as merely a product of colonial interference, revealing an incredibly complicated portrait of a nation with a tangled history, where slavery, violence and instability was and remains a primary organising principle for elite competition and political negotiations.Influential figures loom large over the narrative including: Usman dan Fodio, the revolutionary Islamic reformer and founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, Efunroye Tinubu, the prominent slave-trader and political figure, Fredrick Lugard, British colonial administrator, Nana Asma’u, revered poet and teacher, Samuel Ajayi-Crowther, Yoruba linguist and first Nigerian Anglican Bishop, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, political campaigner, suffragist and mother to Fela Kuti, maverick British statesman and industrialist, Joseph Chamberlain, alongside other well-known and many less familiar names. Formation uses colourful character sketches and first-hand reporting to show how local events and characters are intertwined with global occurrences over the period. Coming on the 60th anniversary of the end of formal colonial rule in Nigeria, Formation arrives at a critical time when the world is reawakening to the struggles of Black people re-ignited by the police killing of George Floyd and the activism around Black Lives Matter. This book grounds these struggles, guiding readers into the 19th century events of Africa’s most populous country where through slavery and colonialism, the terms of trade were calculated in human currency, creating an environment of deep-seated mistrust, animosity and a universally morbid and hard to dislodge political economy.

Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership


Edward J. Larson - 2020
    Wood From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian comes a masterful, first-of-its-kind dual biography of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, illuminating their partnership's enduring importance. NATIONAL BESTSELLER • One of Washington Post's "10 Books to Read in February" • One of USA Today’s “Must-Read Books" of Winter 2020  •  One of Publishers Weekly's "Top Ten" Spring 2020 Memoirs/BiographiesTheirs was a three-decade-long bond that, more than any other pairing, would forge the United States. Vastly different men, Benjamin Franklin—an abolitionist freethinker from the urban north—and George Washington—a slavehold­ing general from the agrarian south—were the indispensable authors of American independence and the two key partners in the attempt to craft a more perfect union at the Constitutional Convention, held in Franklin’s Philadelphia and presided over by Washington. And yet their teamwork has been little remarked upon in the centuries since.Illuminating Franklin and Washington’s relationship with striking new detail and energy, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Edward J. Larson shows that theirs was truly an intimate working friendship that amplified the talents of each for collective advancement of the American project.After long sup­porting British rule, both Franklin and Washington became key early proponents of inde­pendence. Their friendship gained historical significance during the American Revolution, when Franklin led America’s diplomatic mission in Europe (securing money and an alliance with France) and Washington commanded the Continental Army. Victory required both of these efforts to succeed, and success, in turn, required their mutual coordination and cooperation. In the 1780s, the two sought to strengthen the union, leading to the framing and ratification of the Constitution, the founding document that bears their stamp.Franklin and Washington—the two most revered figures in the early republic—staked their lives and fortunes on the American experiment in liberty and were committed to its preservation. Today the United States is the world’s great super­power, and yet we also wrestle with the government Franklin and Washington created more than two centuries ago—the power of the executive branch, the principle of checks and balances, the electoral college—as well as the wounds of their compromise over slavery. Now, as the founding institutions appear under new stress, it is time to understand their origins through the fresh lens of Larson’s Franklin & Washington, a major addition to the literature of the founding era.

Forbidden Wife: The Life and Trials of Lady Augusta Murray


Julia Abel Smith - 2020
    The wedding of the sixth son of King George III to the daughter of the Earl of Dunmore would not only be concealed – it would also be illegal.Lady Augusta Murray had known Prince Augustus Frederick for only three months but they had already fallen deeply in love and were desperate to be married. However, the Royal Marriages Act forbade such a union without the King’s permission and going ahead with the ceremony would change Augusta’s life forever. From a beautiful socialite she became a social pariah; her children were declared illegitimate and her family was scorned.In FORBIDDEN WIFE Julia Abel Smith uses material from the Royal Archives and the Dunmore family papers to create a dramatic biography set in the reigns of Kings George III and IV against the background of the American and French Revolutions.

War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion


John Knight - 2020
    A corps made up of American Loyalists, it saw its first action in New York and then engaged in almost every battle in the Southern colonies. Led by a twenty-four-year-old libertine who purchased his commission to escape enormous gambling debts, the Legion gained notoriety for its ruthless tactics. Excelling in “special operations,” they frequently overwhelmed the Continental forces they fought, becoming the most feared British regiment of the war.     Banastre Tarleton and the Americans he led have always been characterized as brutal, immoral villains—most recently in the movie, The Patriot. But this study subverts our pre-conceived notions of patriotism. The men who filled the Legions ranks were not weak-willed collaborators or treacherous renegades, but free men as motivated by conscience as the Patriots they battled. Few were wealthy. None had a vested stake in the British Government. Each believed that in defending the Crown; they were upholding the rule of law and preserving individual liberty.      These men followed Banastre Tarleton clear across America for years, sacrificing not only their families and homes but, in many instances, their lives. Self-interest could not have persuaded them to do this. Patriotism and fidelity did. Relying on first-hand accounts—letters, diaries, and journals—The British Legion is the enthralling story of those forgotten Americans and the young Englishman who led them.

Norske Fields: A Novel of Southern California's Norwegian Colony


Anne Schroeder - 2020
    In southern California they pool their money to purchase affordable land. They draw names from a hat to decide who farms the better land and who must make do with the inferior. Soon after, their sweethearts arrive from the homeland and the Norwegian Colony is born. This novel uses modern fiction techniques to recreate unforgettable characters who experience heartbreak and personal triumphs. Readers will experience the struggles, joys and sacrifices of the families who settle the land and create a legacy for their children in part through original diaries, photos and letters. Written by the great-granddaughter of Nils Olsen and Ellen Fjorstad, two of the five immigrant families that settled in the Conejo Valley. The author is an award-winning novelist and storyteller who uses family history to create an emotional true story that will remain in readers' hearts. "Write what should not be forgotten." - Isabel Allende.

Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast


Marjoleine Kars - 2020
    Surrounded by jungle and savannah, the revolutionaries (many of them African-born) and Europeans struck and parried for an entire year. In the end, the Dutch prevailed because of one unique advantage - their ability to get soldiers and supplies from neighboring colonies and from Europe.Blood on the River is the explosive story of this little-known revolution, one that almost changed the face of the Americas.Drawing on nine hundred interrogation transcripts collected by the Dutch when the Berbice rebellion finally collapsed, and which were subsequently buried in Dutch archives, historian Marjoleine Kars reconstructs an extraordinarily rich day-by-day account of this pivotal event.Blood on the River provides a rare in-depth look at the political vision of enslaved people at the dawn of the Age of Revolution and introduces us to a set of real characters, vividly drawn against the exotic tableau of a riverine world of plantations, rainforest, and Carib allies who controlled a vast South American hinterland.An astonishing original work of history, Blood on the River will change our understanding of revolutions, slavery, and of the story of freedom in the New World.

The Summer Fields


L.P. Fergusson - 2020
    But when she is instructed to care for high-born Viscount Mordiford she is forced to leave her home and nurse him in the confines of Duntisbourne Hall. There, Elen finds a horribly afflicted patient and sinister associates whom set out to lure her into their debauchery. It is only her friendship with valet Ned Harley that offers a chink of light. That is, until she realises her ally is in fact out to betray her.Elen is saved from shame by her patient, Mordiford, who urges her to flee and serve as a nurse for the Duke of Marlborough’s campaign against the French. He promises to follow when he is well, and Elen realises that their time together has sparked a passion between them – but how can they overcome the challenge of war, not to mention their vastly different backgrounds?On the banks of the Danube at the Battle of Blenheim, Elen is threatened by a figure from her past. It may be a small battle in comparison to the events of the day but Elen’s destiny lies in the hands of others, and failure to win risks life, freedom and love.

The Anatomist's Tale


Tauno Biltsted - 2020
    "Glorious Marshalsea! The cells here—slick with algae and vomit, sweaty with the resigned terror of their occupants—have seen the end of many rogues and more than a few innocents."Born into abject poverty in the British Empire, our narrator aspires to a better life as a ship’s surgeon—until a tyrannical captain provokes a mutiny, forcing him into a life of piracy and eventually to a tropical commune of maroons called New Madagascar.Told through a series of confessions to those who visit the narrator during his imprisonment at Marshalsea, The Anatomist's Tale relates one man’s brush with the heady freedom of outlaws—and the price of returning to “civilization.”

The Classical School: The Turbulent Birth of Economics in Twenty Extraordinary Lives


Callum Williams - 2020
    Keynes thought it was everyone up to Keynes. But there's a general agreement about who belongs to the heroic early phase of the discipline. Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Malthus, Mill, Marx: scarcely a day goes by without their names being publicly invoked to celebrate or criticise the state of the world or the actions of governments.Few of us, though, have read their works. Fewer still realise that the economies that many of them were analysing were quite unlike our modern one, or the extent to which they were indebted to one another. So join the Economist's Callum Williams to join the dots. See how the modern edifice of economics was built, brick by brick, from their ideas and quarrels. And find out which parts stand the test of time.

The Age of Undress: Art, Fashion, and the Classical Ideal in the 1790s


Amelia Rauser - 2020
    The neoclassical style of clothing—often referred to as robe à la grecque, empire style, or “undress”—is marked by a sheer, white, high-waisted muslin dress worn with minimal undergarments, often accessorized with a cashmere shawl. This style represented a dramatic departure from that of previous decades and was short lived: by the 1820s, corsets, silks, and hoop skirts were back in fashion.   Amelia Rauser investigates this sudden transformation and argues that women styled themselves as living statues, artworks come to life, an aesthetic and philosophical choice intertwined with the experiments and innovations of artists working in other media during the same period. Although neoclassicism is often considered a cold, rational, and masculine movement, Rauser’s analysis shows that it was actually deeply passionate, with women at its core—as ideals and allegories, as artistic agents, and as important patrons.

Royal Seals: The National Archives: Images of Power and Majesty


Paul Dryburgh - 2020
    Royal Seals is an introduction to the seals of the kings and queens of England, Scotland and latterly the United Kingdom, as well as the Church and nobility.Ranging from Medieval times to modern day, it uses images of impressive wax seals held at The National Archives to show the historical importance of these beautiful works of art.Included are features on the great seals of famous monarchs like Richard III, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and twentieth-century monarchs, as well as insights on the role of seals in treaties and foreign policy.With ecclesiastical seals and those of the nobility and lower orders included, this is a comprehensive and lavishly illustrated guide.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Black Women, the Law, and the Making of a White Argentine Republic


Erika Denise Edwards - 2020
    This makes it an exception to other Latin American countries, which embrace a more mixed—African, Indian, European—heritage. Hiding in Plain Sight: Black Women, the Law, and the Making of a White Argentine Republic traces the origins of what some white Argentines mischaracterize as a “black disappearance” by delving into the intimate lives of black women and explaining how they contributed to the making of a “white” Argentina. Erika Denise Edwards has produced the first comprehensive study in English of the history of African descendants outside of Buenos Aires in the late colonial and early republican periods, with a focus on how these women sought whiteness to better their lives and that of their children. Edwards argues that attempts by black women to escape the stigma of blackness by recategorizing themselves and their descendants as white began as early as the late eighteenth century, challenging scholars who assert that the black population drastically declined at the end of the nineteenth century because of the whitening or modernization process. She further contends that in Córdoba, Argentina, women of African descent (such as wives, mothers, daughters, and concubines) were instrumental in shaping their own racial reclassifications and destinies. This volume makes use of a wealth of sources to relate these women’s choices. The sources consulted include city censuses and notarial and probate records that deal with free and enslaved African descendants; criminal, ecclesiastical, and civil court cases; marriages and baptisms records and newsletters. These varied sources provide information about the day-to-day activities of cordobés society and how women of African descent lived, formed relationships, thrived, and partook in the transformation of racial identities in Argentina.

They Carried Us: The Social Impact of Philadelphia's Black Women Leaders


Allener M. Baker-Rogers - 2020
    They range from the first black woman known to be born in Philadelphia (1694)—who ran a ferry business during colonial times—to the woman whose childhood experiences led her to become a surgeon and medical advisor to celebrities. All of the women “bring it” as activists— in community and movement work, business and civic institutions, education, churches, medicine, government, journalism, sports and the arts. And they have had larger-than-life impact on the city. Historical research and original interviews of contemporary women squarely place Philadelphia’s black women on centerstage. The authors document that many of them worked together directly. Others drew inspiration from those who came before. Their power came not just from what they did as individuals, but from how their efforts snowballed into a Philadelphia community of women which spanned geographies, sectors and time. The authors’ experiences as activists, researchers and educators—and their own experiences of frequently being the “only black women in the room”—fill the book not just with facts, but with genuine empathy. These are the inspiring stories of black women in one of the country’s most important cities. They let no obstacle deter them from changing the game.

Infamous Bodies: Early Black Women’s Celebrity and the Afterlives of Rights


Samantha Pinto - 2020
    In Infamous Bodies, Samantha Pinto explores how histories of these black women and their ongoing fame generate new ways of imagining black feminist futures. Drawing on a variety of media, cultural, legal, and critical sources, Pinto shows how the narratives surrounding these eighteenth- and nineteenth-century celebrities shape key political concepts such as freedom, consent, contract, citizenship, and sovereignty. Whether analyzing Wheatley's fame in relation to conceptions of race and freedom, notions of consent in Hemings's relationship with Thomas Jefferson, or Baartman's ability to enter into legal contracts, Pinto reveals the centrality of race, gender, and sexuality in the formation of political rights. In so doing, she contends that feminist theories of black women's vulnerable embodiment can be the starting point for future progressive political projects.

Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks: Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide


Marc David Baer - 2020
    If we believe that Turks and Jews have lived in harmony for so long, then how can we believe that the Turks could have committed genocide against the Armenians? Marc David Baer confronts these convictions and circumstances to reflect on what moral responsibility the descendants of the victims of one genocide have to the descendants of victims of another. Baer delves into the history of Muslim-Jewish relations in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey to find the origin of these many tangled truths. He aims to bring about reconciliation between Jews, Muslims, and Christians, not only to face inconvenient historical facts but to confront it and come to terms. By looking at the complexities of interreligious relations, Holocaust denial, genocide and ethnic cleansing, and confronting some long-standing historical stereotypes, Baer sets out to tell a new history that goes against Turkish antisemitism and admits to the Armenian genocide.

Branding Japanese Food: From Meibutsu to Washoku


Katarzyna J. Cwiertka - 2020
    At the center of the narrative is the 2013 inscription of “Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year” on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The authors challenge the very definition of washoku as it was presented in the UNESCO nomination, and expose the multitude of contradictions and falsehoods used in the promotion of Japanese cuisine as part of the nation-branding agenda.Cwiertka and Yasuhara argue further that the manipulation of historical facts in the case of washoku is actually a continuation of similar practices employed for centuries in the branding of foods as iconic markers of tourist attractions. They draw parallels with gastronomic meibutsu (famous products) and edible omiyage (souvenirs), which since the early modern period have been persistently marketed through questionable connections with historical personages and events. Today, meibutsu and omiyage play a central role in the travel experience in Japan and comprise a major category in the practices of gift exchange. Few seem to mind that the stories surrounding these foods are hardly ever factual, despite the fact that the stories, rather than the food itself, constitute the primary attraction. The practice itself is derived from the intellectual exercise of evoking specific associations and sentiments by referring to imaginary landscapes, known as utamakura or meisho. At first restricted to poetry, this exercise was expanded to the visual arts, and by the early modern period familiarity with specific locations and the culinary associations they evoked had become a fixed component of public collective knowledge.The construction of the myths of meibutsu, omiyage, and washoku as described in this book not only enriches the understanding of Japanese culinary culture, but also highlights the dangers of tweaking history for branding purposes, and the even greater danger posed by historians remaining silent in the face of this irreversible reshaping of the past into a consumable product for public enjoyment.

The Lost Diary of Alexander Hamilton


Sophie Schiller - 2020
    1765: Alexander Hamilton arrives with his family in St. Croix to begin a new life. He longs for the chance to go to school and fit in, but secrets from his mother’s past threaten to turn him into a social outcast and tear his family apart. When he sees a young African slave being tortured, Alex vows to act. He urges his uncle to buy Ajax and promises to set him free. But tragedy strikes when his father abandons the family and his mother dies of yellow fever. Orphaned and alone, Alex is forced to survive by his wits and resourcefulness. By day he works in a counting house learning the secrets that make men and nations wealthy. By night he reads Plutarch and dreams of fame and glory.When Ajax is sold to a brutal planter, Alex vows to save him, even at the risk of his own life. With the help of a reluctant slave-catcher, he concocts a plan to rescue Ajax, but when the price for helping a slave run away is torture or death, no one is safe. In a gripping style, Schiller recreates Hamilton’s forgotten boyhood in the West Indies, when tensions were rising in Britain’s Caribbean colonies against King George’s harsh taxes, and the ideas of Freedom and Liberty were echoing in the trade winds. It is a story of heartbreak, struggle, resilience, and ultimately, triumph.

Henry Knox's Noble Train: The Story of a Boston Bookseller's Heroic Expedition That Saved the American Revolution


William Hazelgrove - 2020
    He and his men journeyed some three hundred miles south and east over frozen, often-treacherous terrain to supply George Washington for his attack of British troops occupying Boston. The result was the British surrender of Boston and the first major victory for the Colonial Army. This is one of the great stories of the American Revolution, still little known by comparison with the more famous battles of Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill. Told with a novelist's feel for narrative, character, and vivid description, The Noble Train brings to life the events and people at a time when the ragtag American rebels were in a desperate situation. Washington's army was withering away from desertion and expiring enlistments. Typhoid fever, typhus, and dysentery were taking a terrible toll. There was little hope of dislodging British General Howe and his 20,000 British troops in Boston--until Henry Knox arrived with his supply convoy of heavy armaments. Firing down on the city from the surrounding Dorchester Heights, these weapons created a decisive turning point. An act of near desperation fueled by courage, daring, and sheer tenacity led to a tremendous victory for the cause of independence. This exciting tale of daunting odds and undaunted determination highlights a pivotal episode that changed history.

Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism


Allissa V Richardson - 2020
    At the height of the Black Lives Matter uprisings, African Americans filmed and tweeted evidence of fatal police encounters in dozens of UScities--using little more than the device in their pockets. Their urgent dispatches from the frontlines spurred a global debate on excessive police force, which claimed the lives of African American men, women, and children at disproportionate rates.This groundbreaking book reveals how the perfect storm of smartphones, social media, and social justice empowered Black activists to create their own news outlets, which continued a centuries-long, African American tradition of using the news to challenge racism. Bearing Witness While Black is thefirst book of its kind to identify three overlapping eras of domestic terror against African American people--slavery, lynching, and police brutality--and explain how storytellers during each period documented its atrocities through journalism. What results is a stunning genealogy--of how the slavenarratives of the 1700s inspired the Abolitionist movement; how the black newspapers of the 1800s galvanized the anti-lynching and Civil Rights movements; and how the smartphones of today have powered the anti-police brutality movement. This lineage of black witnessing, Allissa V. Richardson argues, is formidable and forever evolving.Richardson's own activism, as an award-winning pioneer of smartphone journalism, informs this text. Weaving in personal accounts of her teaching in the US and Africa, and of her own brushes with police brutality, Richardson shares how she has inspired black youth to use mobile devices, to speak upfrom the margins. It is from this vantage point, as participant-observer, that she urges us not to become numb to the tragic imagery that African Americans have documented. Instead, Bearing Witness While Black conveys a crucial need to protect our right to look into the forbidden space of violenceagainst black bodies, and to continue to regard the smartphone as an instrument of moral suasion and social change.

Indigo


Paula Berinstein - 2020
    But as soon as she arrives in Charleston her life begins to diverge from the idyllic picture in her mind. Her physicist husband, Melvin, is arrested for driving while black, she inherits a strange English property from a cousin she didn't know existed, and she learns that her great-grandmother Sophie, a brilliant scientist kidnapped by the Nazis, discovered the secret of time travel of all things.Intrigued by Sophie’s cryptic journal Melvin begins to experiment with time travel, but his anger at the police makes him careless. The process backfires, killing him and throwing Esther back to 1750. Attacked by an unknown assailant the moment she arrives, she seeks protection at an indigo plantation belonging to a dashing planter with a dangerous secret, negotiating a deal that guarantees her safety. But she soon realizes she’s made a terrible mistake. What she discovers on the plantation is far more horrific than anything she could have imagined. Overwhelmed, she attempts to flee just as the planter’s mysterious, handsome brother arrives from England seeking refuge—and offering an opportunity that’s too compelling to turn down. But can he be trusted? And are the two of them strong enough to vanquish the evil that’s pervading the lowlands? Only time will tell.The first title in the Indigo series.

The Bukharan Crisis: A Connected History of 18th Century Central Asia


Scott C. Levi - 2020
    Bukharans suffered failed harvests and famine, a severe fiscal downturn, invasions from the north and the south, rebellion, and then revolution. To date, efforts to identify the cause of this crisis have focused on the assumption that the region became isolated from early modern globalizing trends. The Bukharan Crisis exposes that explanation as a flawed relic of early Orientalist scholarship on the region.In its place, Scott Levi identifies multiple causal factors that underpinned the Bukharan crisis. Some of these were interrelated and some independent, some unfolded over long periods while others shocked the region more abruptly, but they all converged in the early eighteenth century to the detriment of the Bukharan Khanate and those dependent upon it. Levi applies an integrative framework of analysis that repositions Central Asia in recent scholarship on multiple themes in early modern Eurasian and world history.

Jamaica in the Age of Revolution


Trevor Burnard - 2020
    White Jamaican slaveowners presided over a highly productive economic system, a precursor to the modern factory in its management of labor, its harvesting of resources, and its scale of capital investment and ouput. Planters, supported by a dynamic merchant class in Kingston, created a plantation system in which short-term profit maximization was the main aim. Their slave system worked because the planters who ran it were extremely powerful.In Jamaica in the Age of Revolution, Trevor Burnard analyzes the men and women who gained so much from the labor of enslaved people in Jamaica to expose the ways in which power was wielded in a period when the powerful were unconstrained by custom, law, or, for the most part, public approbation or disapproval. Burnard finds that the unremitting war by the powerful against the poor and powerless, evident in the day-to-day struggles slaves had with masters, is a crucial context for grasping what enslaved people had to endure.Examining such events as Tacky's Rebellion of 1760 (the largest slave revolt in the Caribbean before the Haitian Revolution), the Somerset decision of 1772, and the murder case of the Zong in 1783 in an Atlantic context, Burnard reveals Jamiaca to be a brutally effective and exploitative society that was highly adaptable to new economic and political circumstances, even when placed under great stress, as during the American Revolution. Jamaica in the Age of Revolution demonstrates the importance of Jamaican planters and merchants to British imperial thinking at a time when slavery was unchallenged.