Podcast appearances and mentions of Marcus Rediker

As many as 100,000 enslaved people fled successfully from the horrors of bondage in the antebellum South, finding safe harbor along a network of passageways across North America via the Underground Railroad. Yet many escapes took place not by land but by sea. William Grimes escaped slavery in 1815 by stowing away in a cotton bale on a ship from Savannah to New York, enduring days without food or water before settling in Connecticut. Frederick Douglass disguised himself as a free black sailor, using borrowed papers to board a train and then a steamboat from Baltimore to New York, reaching freedom in less than 24 hours. Thomas Jones, a formerly enslaved man from North Carolina, escaped in 1849 by hiding on a ship bound for New York, relying on his maritime knowledge as a steward to evade detection and later reuniting with his family in the North.This was a secret world of stowaways and the vessels that carried them to freedom across the North and into Canada. It sprawled through the intricate riverways of the Carolinas to the banks of the Chesapeake Bay to Boston’s harbors. Today’s guest is Marcus Rediker, author of “Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea.” We see the Atlantic waterfront as a place of conspiracy, mutiny, and liberation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Second of a double podcast about the Golden Age of Piracy, with historian Marcus Rediker. Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryPart 2 covers the extent of piracy, how pirates organise themselves, how colonial powers fought them, the decline of pirates, and their legacy today.More information, and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e103-pirates/Get Marcus's Books:Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden AgeMarcus Rediker and David Lester, Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, a Graphic NovelAcknowledgementsThanks to our Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Nick Williams and Old Norm.Written by Audrey Kemp and Tyler HillProduced by Tyler HillEpisode graphic: Contemporary illustration of the execution of two pirates. Courtesy Wikimedia CommonsOur theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

First in a double podcast about the Golden Age of Piracy, with historian Marcus Rediker. The legendary pirates of this era weren't just thieves—they were daring rebels challenging the very systems of power and authority of their time. Fighting every colonial empire, and creating their own ways of living free from authority, pirates became symbols of liberty and resistance to working-class and poor people everywhere.  Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistoryPart 1 covers the historical and economic background, the different eras of piracy in the golden age, about life at sea, how people became pirates.Our patreon supporters can listen to part 2 now early, covering the extent of piracy, how pirates organise themselves, how colonial powers fought them, the decline of pirates, and their legacy today: available here for early listening for our patreon supporters.More information, and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e103-pirates/Get Marcus's Books:Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden AgeMarcus Rediker and David Lester, Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, a Graphic NovelAcknowledgementsThanks to our Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Nick Williams and Old Norm.Written by Audrey Kemp and Tyler HillProduced by Tyler HillEpisode graphic: Painting depicting the capture of Blackbeard, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1920. Courtesy Wikimedia CommonsOur theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-class-history--5711490/support.

The New Haven Museum staff and their community partners have reinterpreted the Amistad story in an exhibition that takes a new angle on the familiar story of the Amistad.   The 1839 Amistad Revolt was led by 53 West African captives who were being trafficked from Havana's slave markets on the schooner La Amistad after being kidnapped from their homeland. For nearly 19 months in New Haven, the Amistad captives worked closely with anti-slavery activists who formed the Amistad Committee and connected with networks of engaged citizens to organize and fundraise for their legal defense.   The New Haven Museum exhibition, “Amistad: Retold,” centers the people who led the 1839 revolt and their collective actions to determine their own lives. It also focuses on New Haven as the site of their incarceration and abolitionist organizing.    My guests for this episode are award-winning historian, writer, and filmmaker Dr. Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh, and Joanna Steinberg, the New Haven Museum's Director of Learning and Engagement. Dr. Rediker will present, “Rethinking the Amistad Story” at the New Haven Museum on Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 6 p.m. This is a rare local opportunity to meet the historian whose work transformed the understanding of the Amistad revolt and was central to the recent re-interpretation of the New Haven Museum exhibit, “Amistad: Retold."   Don't forget to register for Dr. Rediker's upcoming lecture on April 3rd at the New Haven Museum-the link with further information is here: https://www.newhavenmuseum.org/50304-2/   Be sure to visit Dr. Rediker's  website at www.marcusrediker.com/ for information on his 2012 book The Amistad Rebellion, An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Rebellion published by Penguin Press.    To watch his award-winning film about visiting Sierra Leonne, Ghosts of Amistad, go to the website www.ghostsofamistad.com   ----------------------------------------------- We have a serious funding gap for 2025. You can help us continue to tell the important stories from Connecticut's history by donating a fixed dollar amount monthly. It's easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/gratingthenutmeg/ We need and appreciate your support!   Subscribe to get your copy of our beautiful magazine Connecticut Explored delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at  https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored    If you are looking for fun and interesting things to do around the state, our magazine and bi-monthly enewsletter will fill you in! Subscribe and sign up for our free enewsletter at our website at ctexplored.org   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/   Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.   Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!  

In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy interview historian Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh and author of The Amistad Rebellion. Prof. Rediker explores the 1839 slave revolt aboard the schooner La Amistad. He recounts the leadership of Sengbe Pieh (Joseph Cinqué) and the wider history and human toll of the transatlantic slave trade. Prof. Rediker details […]

In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy interview historian Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh and author of The Amistad Rebellion. Prof. Rediker explores the 1839 slave revolt aboard the schooner La Amistad. He recounts the leadership of Sengbe Pieh (Joseph Cinqué) and the wider history and human toll of the transatlantic slave trade. Prof. Rediker details the Amistad Africans' journey from Sierra Leone to Havana's barracoons, their rebellion at sea, and their capture off Long Island. He examines the legal battle, from their defense by abolitionists to American statesman John Quincy Adams' stirring legal argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, which helped secure their freedom. Prof. Rediker highlights the Amistad SCOTUS case's impact on the abolitionist movement and the fate of Cinqué and his comrades upon returning to West Africa. He discusses how the Amistad revolt should be remembered and taught, ensuring that this extraordinary story of resistance and justice remains a vital part of our historical consciousness. In closing, Prof. Rediker reads a passage from his book The Amistad Rebellion.

Insurance vs The British Abolition Movement   What happens when an insurance case sparks the beginning of a national movement? Join me for the second episode of my series on Insurance and Slavery, where I talk about British Abolition, the Massacre on the Slave Ship Zong, and Lord Mansfield's insistence on NOT talking about slavery. Hire me! Contact insurancevshistory@gmail.com for details. Tip me! See my page at Buy Me a Coffee: Insurance vs History is Exploring all the ways Insurance changed History...or failed to. Selected Sources and Links: ·         The "Somerset" Effect: Parsing Lord Mansfield's Words on Slavery in Nineteenth Century America. Derek A Webb, Law and History Review, August 2014, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 455-490  ·         How Ideology Works: Historians and the Case of British Abolitionism. William Palmer, The Historical Journal, December 2009, Vol 52, No 4, pp 1039-1051 ·         Granville Sharp's manuscript letter to the admiralty on the Zong massacre: a New discovery in the British Library, Michelle Faubert, Slavery and Abolition, 2017 Vol 38., No 1., 178-195 ·         A Chain of Murder in the Slave Trade: A Wider Context of the Zong Massacre, Jeremy Krikler, IRSH 57 (2012) pp 393-415 ·         Insuring the Transatlantic Slave Trade Pearson, Robin and Richardson, David Journal of Economic History Volume 79, Issue 2, June 2019 pp 417-446 ·         Insurance Litigation Involving the Zong and Other British Slave Ships, 1780-1807. Oldham, James ·         The Zong in the Context of the Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade. Webster, Jane, The Journal of Legal History, Vol 28, No. 3, December 2007, pp 285-298 Books: ·         Black Ivory: Slavery in the British Empire: Walvin, James: 9780631229599: Amazon.com: Books o   Walvin has a lot of books about slavery, and I would consider him to be a good entry point for someone who hasn't read a lot about the topic.  ·         The Zong: A Massacre, the Law and the End of Slavery a book by James Walvin (bookshop.org) ·         Lord Mansfield: Justice in the Age of Reason a book by Norman S Poser (bookshop.org) ·         The Slave Ship: A Human History a book by Marcus Rediker (bookshop.org) ·         Econocide: British Slavery in the Era of Abolition a book by Seymour Drescher and David Brion Davis (bookshop.org) ·         Amazon.com: The Interest: 9781529110982: Michael Taylor: Books ·         Great Abolition Sham: Jordan, Michael: 9780750934909: Amazon.com: Books ·         Specters of the Atlantic: Finance Capital, Slavery, and the Philosophy of History a book by Ian Baucom o   This is a great book, but it is more about philosophy than history. Read at your own risk. Documentaries/Television: ·         Amazing Grace (2006) - IMDb o   Rotten score 68 tomatometer and 85 popcornmeter ·         Belle (2013) - IMDb o   Rotten Score: 85 tomatometer and 82 popcornmeter o   Note that this movie's plot about the Zong is entirely fictional. Music Credits: Boulangerie by Jeremy Sherman, courtesy of NeoSounds: Boulangerie, LynneMusic | NeoSounds music library Contact Me: Website: https://insurancevshistory.libsyn.com Contact me!  Email: insurancevshistory@gmail.com Instagram: @ insurancevshistory Facebook:  Insurance vs History | Facebook

While Marxist friend and historian Cosimo Pataleoni was in town from Italy, Sean decided to bring along Ross Wolf to get a taste of some badass history of piracy. We discuss Cosimo's work on the Uskoks, Croatian rebel sailors of the early modern period, as a lens for understanding the rise of commercial capitalism, proletarianization, debt bondage, and incarceration on the frontiers and the high seas. How do Cosimo's studies-inspired by figures like Eric Hobsbawm, Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker-help us understand the transition towards capitalism and, ultimately, how the transition towards communism might unfold?In the second half we talk about Cosimo's Italian Bordigist futurism project N+1 (no, not that one) then speculate about Houthi rebels and Yemeni pirates, maritime multipolarity, the fetters that your home wifi imposes on production and why intellectual property and the internet have become the new frontier in capitalist development... and perhaps its overcoming?For this bonus content, and so much more, become a supporter of our work at www.patreon.com/theantifadaSong: Vandals - Pirate's Life

We examine the complex and tumultuous history of the lands around the Caribbean basin, including the rise of the massive sugar-plantation colonies of Jamaica and Saint Domingue, which depended upon an enormous traffic in enslaved African workers, the emergence of distinctive creole languages and spiritual practices, the flourishing of piracy amidst inter-imperial wars, and the long struggle of resistance by slave rebels and defiant Maroons which eventually culminated in the catacylismic upheaval known today as the Haitian Revolution. Image: Women at a linen market, Dominica, by Agostino Brunias, ca. 1780. Our previous lecture on Creating the Caribbean: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/creating-the-caribbean-the-colonial-west-indies-pt-1-1496-1697 Suggested further reading: Richard Dunn, "Sugar and Slaves"; Trevor Burnard, "Master, Tyranny, & Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves"; John Sensbach, "Rebecca's Revival"; Marcus Rediker, "The Slave Ship"; Rediker & Linebaugh, "The Many-Headed Hydra"; Christopher L. Brown, "Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism." Please support to keep this podcast coming and to hear patron-only lectures including on the Dead Sea Scrolls: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

Do you like stories about people who fearlessly speak truth to power? Of course you do. This week, Matt and Dean talk to Marcus Rediker about his book The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. You can get the book here: https://bookshop.org/books/the-fearless-benjamin-lay-the-quaker-dwarf-who-became-the-first-revolutionary-abolitionist-with-a-new-preface/9780807060988Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues*Support The Magnificast on Patreon* http://patreon.com/themagnificast *Get Magnificast Merch* https://www.redbubble.com/people/themagnificast/ Thanks to our monthly supporters j Nick Alvyn McQuitty Johannes Bygdell Robert Shreiner Eric Dorman patreonaccess2023 Timothy Dolan DK Thomas Niblett Mark Holmes Patricia Fong Natasha Leader emerson Frank Bergh Rosemary Holland molly eo Will Shelby S Nathan Hubler Kadeem Whittaker Colin Gillis Justin Glenn Stina Soderling CR Rowell-Jore jelly Matthew Ospina Lyn AD Jansen Katie Chepulis Terrence Holland Keenan Dolan Riley Jane De Las Casas Theo Jack Molly Grisham Laura Brittyn Thomas Finley Matthew Sanjay Kumarendran steve morley Jessica C Matt Mark Vinzani Michael Daniels Stacy's Mom Craig Conrad Larson Jason Elizabeth Dale Ashton Davis Roberts Clarke Matthew Klippenstein Kevin Ethan Milich Philip Nelson Ribs Michael Lee James Thomas Mark De La Paz Lea Mae Rice ChrisJ Gill Erik Mohr illi Robert Shine Kurt XxXJudasdidnothingwrongXxX Maxwell Lorena Rivera Soren Harward Christian Noakes David Wadstrup John Salcedo Austin Gallyer Harrison g Randall Elias Jacob D Francisco Herrera Michael Dimitras Jacob S Leigh Elliot Tyler Adair Catherine Harrison Zachary Elicker Kasey Erin Archambeault Mikegrapes Kate Alexander Calderon Alejandro Kritzlof Caleb Strom Shandra Benito Andrew McIntosh Peter Shaw Kerrick Fanning Josh Johnson Jennifer Kunze Damon Pitiroi Yroffeiriad Sandra Zadkovic Stephanie Heifner Patrick Sweeney Aaron Morrison girlboss.icarus Leslie Rodriguez Sarah Clark Kinsey Favre Name Colm Moran Stewart Thomas Lonnie Smith Brendan Fong Kylie Riley Darren Young Josh Kerley koalatee Tim Luschen Elizabeth Davis Lee Ketch Ashton Sims Ryan Euverman Tristan Turner Linzi Stahlecker Matthew Alhonte John Samson Fellows alex zarecki rob Kathryn Bain Stephen Machuga zane Collin Majors GolfBaller Daniel Saunders Andrew Brian Nowak erol delos santos Aaron Forbis-Stokes Josh Strassman Cal Kielhold Luke Stocking Sara Trey Brian S. drew k Matthew Darmour-Paul saheemax Adam Burke Zambedos Kevin Hernandez Wilden Dannenberg Evan Ernst Tucker Clyle Christopher RayAlexander NICO Peter Adourian Dan Meyer Benjamin Pletcher Caleb Cropper-Russel Tristan Greeno Steve Schiroo Robert Clelland Anastasia S Scott Pfeiffer Ben DeVries Josiah Daniels yames Thaddaeus Groat Elisabeth Wienß Hoss Tripp Fuller Avery Dez V Ivan Carter Ryan Plas Jonas Edberg Tom Tilden Jo Jonny Nickname Phil Lembo Matt Roney Quiscalus Stephen McMurtry Andrew Ness James Willard Noj Lucas Costello Dónal Emerson Robert Paquette Ash Amaryah Shaye BreadandRosaries.com Frank Dina Mason Shrader Sabrina Luke Nye Matthew Fisher Michael Vanacore Elinor Stephenson Max Bridges Joel Garver SibilantStar Devon Bowers Daniel David Erdman Madeleine E Guekguezian Logan Daniel Daniel Saunders Medium Dong Bill Jared Rouse Dianne Boardman klavvin Angela Ben Molyneux-Hetherington Junesong91 Keith Wetzel Nathan Beam, Nazi Destroyer Dillon Moore Nicholas Hurley Ibrahím Pedriñán Brando G Z T Some Dude M.N. Geoff Tock Kaya Oakes Tom Cannell Stephen aka Spike Stonehand Troy Andrews Andy Reinsch J Martel K. Aho Jimmy Melnarik Ian SG Daniel Rogers emcanady Molly Toth

 Maritime plundering, or piracy, has happened in nearly all regions of the world, in most ages of human history. Yet the image that we have of "a pirate" in our collective imagination comes from one period in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. So "why has that one relatively short moment come to stand for all sea raiding across time and space?" That is the question with which Richard Blakemore begins his new book Enemies of All: The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Piracy.  To answer it he not only surveys decades of plundering and combat at sea and on land, but also interprets court cases, parliamentary legislation, imperial administration or the lack of it, and the slave trade. For the “golden age of piracy”, like a conspiracy theory of the Kennedy assassination, at times seems to be connected to pretty much everything else going on at the same time. Except that in the case of piracy from 1650 to 1722, it actually was. Richard Blakemore is Associate Professor of Social and Maritime History at the University of Reading. Enemies of All is his second book. For Further Investigation  We've talked about pirates of the "golden age" with Steve Hahn in Episode 87; and they came up again in, of all places, in the history told by trees in Episode 156 Probably the previous single best book about pirates in the "golden age", both factual and fictional, was David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates (Random House, 1995) Marcus Rediker provides a view of pirates as proto-Bolsheviks in Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age; Peter T. Leeson describes them as highly rational market actors in The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates And for more on one of the most curious episodes we talked about, see Robert C. Ritchie, Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates–a great book There are a lot of bad editions of Charles Johnson, General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, but this is the best one until we can convince Richard Blakemore to produce an edited and annotated version.

Joanna Brooks's ancestors were among the early waves of emigrants to leave England for North America. Her book Why We Left: Untold Stories and Songs of America's First Immigrants reveals the violence and dislocation that propelled seventeenth- and eighteenth-century working-class English emigration, and follows American folk ballads back across the Atlantic to find histories of economic displacement, environmental destruction, and social betrayal at the heart of the early Anglo-American migrant experience. A tenth-anniversary edition of the book has just been released, which includes a new preface and develops a haunting historical perspective on the ancestors we thought we knew. Here, Brooks is joined by Desmond Hassing in conversation.Joanna Brooks is an award-winning scholar and writer whose work tends to catastrophes of human belonging in American history. The author or editor of ten books on race, religion, colonialism, and social movements, her writing has been featured in the BBC, NPR, the Daily Show, CNN, MSNBC, and the Washington Post.An enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a San Diego native, Dr. Desmond Hassing is a conceptual artist, scholar, and activist who focuses on educating Western subjects on the intentionally disremembered subject of the Indigenous Peoples of North America. Hassing is founder of the Indigenous Peoples Reading Room, a planned open-access scholarship archive, and creator of The National Indian Project, an annotated bibliography of Native American, First Nations, and Pacific Islander representations in DC/National comic books of the same period. Hassing is lecturer in the Department of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University.Why We Left: Untold Stories and Songs of America's First Immigrants is available from University of Minnesota Press.“A surprising, bold, and altogether brilliant contribution to our understanding of why people crossed the Atlantic to live in a strange new world.”—Marcus Rediker

In this special episode, co-host Christina Heatherton moderates a conversation between historians Robin D. G. Kelley and Peter Linebaugh about their work on racism, capital, and punishment. This episode was co-produced with the Howard Zinn Book Fair. Conjuncture is a web series and podcast curated and co-produced by Jordan T. Camp and Christina Heatherton with support of the Trinity Social Justice Institute. It features interviews with activists, artists, scholars, and public intellectuals. Taking its title from Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall's conceptualization, it highlights the struggles over the meaning and memory of particular historical moments. Christina Heatherton is Elting Associate Professor of American Studies and Human Rights and Founding Co-Director of the Social Justice Institute at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Robin D. G. Kelley is Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Peter Linebaugh is a historian and the author of The Magna Carta Manifesto; The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day; and Stop, Thief!, among many others, and the co-author, with Marcus Rediker, of The Many-Headed Hydra.

Är det Jolly Roger snarare är Trikoloren som upplysningens förkämpar bör hissa? Dan Jönsson läser David Graebers postumt utgivna Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia och prövar hypotensen. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. ESSÄ: Detta är en text där skribenten reflekterar över ett ämne eller ett verk. Åsikter som uttrycks är skribentens egna.Historien är höljd i dunkel. Historien är visserligen alltid höljd i dunkel, men i somliga hörn är dunklet dunklare än annars. Som här: på nordöstra Madagaskar, troligen i närheten av den lilla ön Ile Ste-Marie, låg i början av 1700-talet en stad med namnet Libertalia, eller Libertatia. Libertalia, berättas det, var en koloni som grundats av pirater med en viss kapten James Mission i spetsen, en republik där myterister och sjörövare förverkligat ett samhälle med radikal jämlikhet, där all egendom var gemensam och besluten fattades genom direkt demokrati. Ingen hudfärg, ingen tro räknades för mer än någon annan. Invånarna i Libertalia såg sig som frihetens väktare och drevs av sitt motstånd mot auktoriteter och förtryck i alla former: monarki, slaveri, religion och ekonomisk orättvisa. De konstruerade ett eget språk, förde en vit flagga och levde i vad som kan beskrivas som utopisk kommunism. Med kapten Missions ord var ”varje människa född fri, och med lika stor rätt till sin försörjning, som till luften han andas”.Så berättas det åtminstone. Med tiden har historikerna tyvärr kommit till slutsatsen att både kapten Mission och hans Libertalia måste betraktas som en myt. Enda källan där de nämns är den samtida krönikan A General History of the Pyrates, utgiven i London 1724 under pseudonymen Captain Charles Johnson, möjligen ett täcknamn för författaren Daniel Defoe. Mycket annat i Captain Johnsons krönika är å andra sidan väl belagt, så det kan inte uteslutas att myten om Libertalia i viss mån var, som det brukar heta, baserad på en verklig historia. Att pirater verkligen etablerade baser och grundade kolonier på Madagaskar är oomtvistat, och i Europa gick vid tiden rykten om ett mäktigt piratkungarike under ledning av den legendariske – men historiskt dokumenterade – sjörövaren Henry Avery, som efter en spektakulär räd mot den indiska stormogulens flotta utnämndes till ”mänsklighetens fiende” och jagades som fredlös över hela världen, utan resultat.Även detta kungarike var av allt att döma en myt. Däremot tycks bilden av piratsamhällenas egalitära och demokratiska principer faktiskt ha visst fog för sig. Det var nämligen så besluten togs och rikedomarna fördelades ombord på piratskeppen – så att samma regler gällde när de gick i land verkar logiskt. Men sant eller inte: det ver,kligt betydelsefulla i den här historien är kanske egentligen det dokumenterade faktum att berättelserna om dessa fria och jämlika piratsamhällen fick sådan spridning i det tidiga 1700-talets Europa. Man får komma ihåg att det här var flera årtionden före Montesquieu, Rousseau och encyklopedisterna; det vi idag kallar upplysningen och dess idéer om en rättvis och förnuftsbaserad samhällsordning hade fortfarande inte formulerats. Men de låg i tiden. Piratlegendernas berättelser om blomstrande, alternativa samhällen i fjärran hav förebådade ett epokskifte.Det är här deras historiska betydelse ligger, inte i deras eventuella faktabakgrund. Den amerikanske antropologen David Graeber beskriver i sin posthumt utgivna ”Pirate Enlightenment, or The Real Libertalia” – alltså: ”Piratupplysning, eller det verkliga Libertalia” – hur ryktena om dessa laglösa, egalitära utbrytarrepubliker bör ha fungerat som katalysatorer för det politiska tänkandet i ett Europa där den absoluta monarkin och den allsmäktiga kyrkan hade ett bergfast grepp inte bara om den politiska makten utan också om det ideologiska ramverket. Skulle nya tankar tänkas fick de helt enkelt komma utifrån. Graeber, som dog 2020, har tidigare varit inne på samma spår: i den väldiga ”Början på allt”, skriven tillsammans med kollegan David Wengrow, berättas exempelvis historien om den irokesiske ädlingen Kandiaronk, som i en vida spridd bok från 1703 av den franske författaren Lahontan framträdde som en verserad och radikal kritiker av den kristna civilisationens klasshierarkier, intolerans och sexuella bigotteri.Graebers tes är alltså att impulser som dessa blev avgörande för att rucka perspektiven och bereda vägen för de idéströmningar som hundra år senare fick sitt utlopp i de franska och amerikanska revolutionerna. Tanken är i och för sig inte ny; historiker som Marcus Rediker och Peter Lamborn Wilson har långt tidigare lyft fram piraternas betydelse som förebilder för den tidens fattiga och förslavade. Deras räder sågs som hjältedåd mot en despotisk övermakt, och i deras jämlika, fördomsfria samhällen anades konturen av en rättvisare värld. Wilson beskriver i sin bok ”Piraternas utopi” från 1995 hur piratkolonier som buckanjärernas på Hispaniola – ön som idag delas mellan Haiti och Dominikanska republiken – eller den i Salé i Marocko i sin tid fick sådant inflytande på det allmänna medvetandet att de i själva verket borde ses som första stegen i den revolutionära utveckling som skulle förändra Europa. Att nästan ingenting finns kvar som vittnar om deras existens är i sammanhanget inte det väsentliga. Också det mytiska Libertalia blir för Wilson på så vis ändå ett historiskt faktum, eller som han formulerar det: ”Man kan anta att berättelsen blev trodd för att den var trovärdig.”Sann, verklig, trovärdig – historieskrivning handlar om att bringa reda i ett skeende där mycket, kanske rentav det allra viktigaste utspelar sig i det fördolda, bortom både vittnesmål och dokumentation, och där myter, mysterier och legender ofta är drivande i processer som pågår under generationer, utan direkt påvisbara samband. Ett viktigt spår i David Graebers berättelse handlar om hur piraterna på Madagaskar ända från början beblandade sig med den inhemska befolkningen och hur deras samhällen, också långt efter att de upphört att fungera, på så vis kan sägas ha överlevt genom lokala kungariken som i många fall fört vidare deras värderingar ända in i vår tid. Och Peter Wilson filosoferar, apropå fristaten i Salé, som av allt att döma försvann genom att piraterna konverterade till islam, hur – jag citerar: ”Deras inflytande över den europeiska civilisationen tycks ha varit noll och intet, eller till och med mindre än noll: i likhet med släktingar som har skämt ut sig nämns de aldrig och är inte bara bortglömda utan avsiktligt bortglömda.”Men denna avsiktliga, kollektiva glömska är kanske ett gigantiskt, europeiskt självbedrägeri? Kanske finns ett verkligt samband mellan dessa avfällingar och upplysningstidens beundran för islams konst och kultur? Kanske piraternas terrorverksamhet bör ses – med Wilsons formulering – ”som ett sätt att fly från (och hämnas på) en civilisation präglad av ekonomisk och sexuell misär, en självgod kristenhet baserad på slaveri, förtryck och elitprivilegier”? Mycket möjligt. Rentav mycket troligt. Men historien säger som bekant lika mycket om den tid den skrivs i som den tid den skriver om. Vad vi ser i den beror i hög grad på vad vi förväntar oss att se. Också vår egen tid är höljd i dunkel.Dan Jönssonförfattare och essäistLitteraturDavid Graeber: Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia. Penguin books, 2023.Peter Lamborn Wilson: Piraternas utopi. Översättning: John-Henri Holmberg. Bakhpll förlag, 2016.

DAVID LESTER, graphic novelist, and MARCUS REDIKER, historian, on the story behind their graphic non-fiction novel: PROPHET AGAINST SLAVERY. Based on Rediker's book, "THE FEARLESS BENJAMIN LAY: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist."

Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2023) is a comic adaptation of Rediker's now classic 2004 Villains of all Nation: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, one of the foundational texts in serious pirate studies. David Leter's art offers a graphic exploration of action, resistance, and radicalism among eighteenth-century pirates. The book dramatizes mutiny, bloody battles, and social revolution, breaking new ground in our understanding of piracy and pirate culture. Under the Banner of King Death engages the history of Atlantic slavery and the shipboard origins of democracy. Based on the documented practices of real pirate ships of the era, Lester and Rediker's characters engage in democratic decision-making and create a social security net with health and disability insurance and an equal distribution of spoils taken from prize ships. David Lester is an author and graphic artist. His work includes but is not limited to 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada, Drawn To Change: Graphic Histories of Working Class Struggle, and The Listener, a graphic novel. He is also the guitarist for the underground duo Mecca Normal. Marcus Rediker is a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburg and a Guest Curator at the J. M. W. Turner Gallery, Tate Britain. He is the author of numerous books on the history of piracy, the slave trade, and the Atlantic world such as The Many Headed Hydra, The Slave Ship: A Human History, Villains of all Nations, Outlaws of the Atlantic, The Amistad, and The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf who became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. They previously collaborated with Paul Buhle on Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2021). Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he's not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2023) is a comic adaptation of Rediker's now classic 2004 Villains of all Nation: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, one of the foundational texts in serious pirate studies. David Leter's art offers a graphic exploration of action, resistance, and radicalism among eighteenth-century pirates. The book dramatizes mutiny, bloody battles, and social revolution, breaking new ground in our understanding of piracy and pirate culture. Under the Banner of King Death engages the history of Atlantic slavery and the shipboard origins of democracy. Based on the documented practices of real pirate ships of the era, Lester and Rediker's characters engage in democratic decision-making and create a social security net with health and disability insurance and an equal distribution of spoils taken from prize ships. David Lester is an author and graphic artist. His work includes but is not limited to 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada, Drawn To Change: Graphic Histories of Working Class Struggle, and The Listener, a graphic novel. He is also the guitarist for the underground duo Mecca Normal. Marcus Rediker is a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburg and a Guest Curator at the J. M. W. Turner Gallery, Tate Britain. He is the author of numerous books on the history of piracy, the slave trade, and the Atlantic world such as The Many Headed Hydra, The Slave Ship: A Human History, Villains of all Nations, Outlaws of the Atlantic, The Amistad, and The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf who became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. They previously collaborated with Paul Buhle on Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2021). Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he's not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2023) is a comic adaptation of Rediker's now classic 2004 Villains of all Nation: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, one of the foundational texts in serious pirate studies. David Leter's art offers a graphic exploration of action, resistance, and radicalism among eighteenth-century pirates. The book dramatizes mutiny, bloody battles, and social revolution, breaking new ground in our understanding of piracy and pirate culture. Under the Banner of King Death engages the history of Atlantic slavery and the shipboard origins of democracy. Based on the documented practices of real pirate ships of the era, Lester and Rediker's characters engage in democratic decision-making and create a social security net with health and disability insurance and an equal distribution of spoils taken from prize ships. David Lester is an author and graphic artist. His work includes but is not limited to 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada, Drawn To Change: Graphic Histories of Working Class Struggle, and The Listener, a graphic novel. He is also the guitarist for the underground duo Mecca Normal. Marcus Rediker is a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburg and a Guest Curator at the J. M. W. Turner Gallery, Tate Britain. He is the author of numerous books on the history of piracy, the slave trade, and the Atlantic world such as The Many Headed Hydra, The Slave Ship: A Human History, Villains of all Nations, Outlaws of the Atlantic, The Amistad, and The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf who became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. They previously collaborated with Paul Buhle on Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2021). Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he's not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/caribbean-studies

Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2023) is a comic adaptation of Rediker's now classic 2004 Villains of all Nation: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, one of the foundational texts in serious pirate studies. David Leter's art offers a graphic exploration of action, resistance, and radicalism among eighteenth-century pirates. The book dramatizes mutiny, bloody battles, and social revolution, breaking new ground in our understanding of piracy and pirate culture. Under the Banner of King Death engages the history of Atlantic slavery and the shipboard origins of democracy. Based on the documented practices of real pirate ships of the era, Lester and Rediker's characters engage in democratic decision-making and create a social security net with health and disability insurance and an equal distribution of spoils taken from prize ships. David Lester is an author and graphic artist. His work includes but is not limited to 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada, Drawn To Change: Graphic Histories of Working Class Struggle, and The Listener, a graphic novel. He is also the guitarist for the underground duo Mecca Normal. Marcus Rediker is a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburg and a Guest Curator at the J. M. W. Turner Gallery, Tate Britain. He is the author of numerous books on the history of piracy, the slave trade, and the Atlantic world such as The Many Headed Hydra, The Slave Ship: A Human History, Villains of all Nations, Outlaws of the Atlantic, The Amistad, and The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf who became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. They previously collaborated with Paul Buhle on Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2021). Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he's not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2023) is a comic adaptation of Rediker's now classic 2004 Villains of all Nation: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, one of the foundational texts in serious pirate studies. David Leter's art offers a graphic exploration of action, resistance, and radicalism among eighteenth-century pirates. The book dramatizes mutiny, bloody battles, and social revolution, breaking new ground in our understanding of piracy and pirate culture. Under the Banner of King Death engages the history of Atlantic slavery and the shipboard origins of democracy. Based on the documented practices of real pirate ships of the era, Lester and Rediker's characters engage in democratic decision-making and create a social security net with health and disability insurance and an equal distribution of spoils taken from prize ships. David Lester is an author and graphic artist. His work includes but is not limited to 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada, Drawn To Change: Graphic Histories of Working Class Struggle, and The Listener, a graphic novel. He is also the guitarist for the underground duo Mecca Normal. Marcus Rediker is a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburg and a Guest Curator at the J. M. W. Turner Gallery, Tate Britain. He is the author of numerous books on the history of piracy, the slave trade, and the Atlantic world such as The Many Headed Hydra, The Slave Ship: A Human History, Villains of all Nations, Outlaws of the Atlantic, The Amistad, and The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf who became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. They previously collaborated with Paul Buhle on Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2021). Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he's not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2023) is a comic adaptation of Rediker's now classic 2004 Villains of all Nation: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, one of the foundational texts in serious pirate studies. David Leter's art offers a graphic exploration of action, resistance, and radicalism among eighteenth-century pirates. The book dramatizes mutiny, bloody battles, and social revolution, breaking new ground in our understanding of piracy and pirate culture. Under the Banner of King Death engages the history of Atlantic slavery and the shipboard origins of democracy. Based on the documented practices of real pirate ships of the era, Lester and Rediker's characters engage in democratic decision-making and create a social security net with health and disability insurance and an equal distribution of spoils taken from prize ships. David Lester is an author and graphic artist. His work includes but is not limited to 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada, Drawn To Change: Graphic Histories of Working Class Struggle, and The Listener, a graphic novel. He is also the guitarist for the underground duo Mecca Normal. Marcus Rediker is a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburg and a Guest Curator at the J. M. W. Turner Gallery, Tate Britain. He is the author of numerous books on the history of piracy, the slave trade, and the Atlantic world such as The Many Headed Hydra, The Slave Ship: A Human History, Villains of all Nations, Outlaws of the Atlantic, The Amistad, and The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf who became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. They previously collaborated with Paul Buhle on Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2021). Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he's not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

Pirates are some of the most immediately recognizable figures in popular culture –- and some of the most inaccurately represented. Historian Marcus Rediker argues that the actual pirates who lived during the 17th and 18th centuries created a remarkably egalitarian world for themselves at sea, democratically electing their leaders and sharing their takings equally. Resources: David Lester and Marcus Rediker, Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, a Graphic Novel Beacon Press, 2023 Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age Verso, 2012 The post The Egalitarian World of Pirates appeared first on KPFA.

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution, award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritime archives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin, 2008) is riveting and sobering in its revelations, reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history: the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of African American culture. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide. He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” with playwright Naomi Wallace. He is currently writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

PART 2listen to PART1 here:Ahoy, mateys! Anne Marie here! In this episode, we share part 2 of Anne Marie's interview with Marcus Rediker and David Lester about their graphic novel, Under the Banner of King Death. Yup, that's right, we're going to talk about Pirates. If you listened to our most recent mini episode, you met David and Marcus in our Let's get Quizzical segment.Not only do we talk about egalitarian style government on the pirate ship, we also talk about the evolution of David and Marcus's collaboration and how Marcus's scholarly work is transformed into a graphic novel under the skillful hands of David.Under the Banner of King Death: http://www.beacon.org/Under-the-Banner-of-King-Death-P1928.aspxDavid Lester, wesite: https://davidlesterartmusicdesign.wordpress.comDaavid Lester, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lester_(musician)Marcus Rediker: https://www.marcusrediker.comMecca Normal: https://meccanormal.wordpress.comRiot grrl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrlChristopher Hill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hill_(historian)The World Turned Upside Down: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/321708/the-world-turned-upside-down-by-christopher-hill/Follow us on Social Media:Instagram: @armchairhistoriansTwitter: @ArmchairHistor1Facebook:Follow us on Social Media:Instagram: @armchairhistoriansTwitter: @ArmchairHistor1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/armchairhistoriansSupport Armchair Historians:Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/armchairhistoriansKo-fi: https://ko-fi.com/belgiumrabbitproductionsBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

What was the Enlightenment? A time of wigs, books and noble thoughts? Or was it a little more swashbuckling than that, and perhaps wearing an eye patch? The final book by David Graeber is concerned with pirates and their lives: nasty, brutish and short, for sure – but also free and strikingly egalitarian. In Pirate Enlightenment, […]

Ahoy, mateys! Anne Marie here! In this episode, we share part 1 of Anne Marie's interview with Marcus Rediker and David Lester about their graphic novel, Under the Banner of King Death. Yup, that's right, we're going to talk about Pirates. If you listened to our most recent mini episode, you met David and Marcus in our Let's get Quizzical segment.Not only do we talk about egalitarian style government on the pirate ship, we also talk about the evolution of David and Marcus's collaboration and how Marcus's scholarly work is transformed into a graphic novel under the skillful hands of David.Under the Banner of King Death: http://www.beacon.org/Under-the-Banner-of-King-Death-P1928.aspxDavid Lester, wesite: https://davidlesterartmusicdesign.wordpress.comDaavid Lester, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lester_(musician)Marcus Rediker: https://www.marcusrediker.comMecca Normal: https://meccanormal.wordpress.comRiot grrl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrlChristopher Hill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hill_(historian)The World Turned Upside Down: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/321708/the-world-turned-upside-down-by-christopher-hill/Follow us on Social Media:Instagram: @armchairhistoriansTwitter: @ArmchairHistor1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/armchairhistoriansSupport Armchair Historians:Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/armchairhistoriansKo-fi: https://ko-fi.com/belgiumrabbitproductionsBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

When 34-year-old Charlie Clarke was feeling down about losing his beloved dog to cancer, he decided to go metal detecting to take his mind off of his loss. Sometimes good things happen at the worst of times, and that's just what happened to Charlie when he uncovered a never before seen early sixteenth-century artifact.David Lester and Marcus Rediker, authors of Under the Banner of King Death, take on the Pirate Speak "Let's get Quizzical" challenge.Under the Banner of King DeathMarcus Rediker: WebsiteDavid Lester: WebsiteMetal Detector Finds 500-Year-Old Artifact: New York Times articleUse Buzzsprout for your podcast! Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Follow us on Social Media:Instagram: @armchairhistoriansTwitter: @ArmchairHistor1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/armchairhistoriansSupport Armchair Historians:Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/armchairhistoriansKo-fi: https://ko-fi.com/belgiumrabbitproductionsBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Detailing the true egalitarian, working-class history of the golden age of piracy with historian Marcus Rediker. support the show on patreon!https://www.patreon.com/srslywrong Check out ‘Under the Banner of King Death’ here!http://www.beacon.org/Under-the-Banner-of-King-Death-P1928.aspx Marcus’ Website:https://www.marcusrediker.com/...

We have a conversation with Marcus Rediker and David Lester. The Pirate History Podcast is a member of the Airwave Media Podcast Network. If you'd like to advertise on The Pirate History Podcast, please contact sales@advertisecast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lindsay is joined by David Lester and Marcus Rediker, the illustrator and author behind the new graphic novel “Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic,” which will be released February 7, 2023. David Lester illustrated the award-winning “1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike.” His poster of anti-war protester Malachi Ritscher was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is the guitarist in the rock duo Mecca Normal. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of many “histories from below,” including “Villains of All Nations,” on which the graphic novel is based. You can purchase a copy of their book from Beacon Press, as well as several other online retailers, such as Amazon. Become a member on Buy Me A Coffee for as little as $1/month to support the show.  You can write to us at: Ye Olde Crime Podcast, PO Box 341, Wyoming, MN 55092. Join the conversation over at the Cultiv8 Discord and join the Olde Crimers Cubby to chat with us and other listeners of the show. Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, Spotify or Goodpods! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Quakers Today we ask, “What is a fictional story that has inspired you or challenged your world view?”  Writer Anne E.G. Nydam reads an excerpt from her short story, “The Conduits.” You can read the entire story in the November 2022 Fiction edition of Friends Journal. Click here to hear Anne reading the whole story. Visit nydamprints.com to learn about Anne E.G. Nydam's block prints and books.  Cai Quirk, a trans and genderqueer photographer, focuses on the intersections of gender diversity and spirituality throughout history. Through the QuakerSpeak video, The Spirituality of Storytelling, they talk about the power of stories we can experience through words and images. In the September 2022 issue of Friends Journal you can see some of Cai's photos from their book Transcendence. The book is now available for pre-orders. You can hear an extended interview with them on a brand new podcast, The Seed. In the episode Cai considers the question, What can the natural world teach us about ourselves? The Seed is an excellent show hosted by Dwight Dunston. It is a project of Pendle Hill Study Center. We also look at a new graphic novel about a radical, eccentric prophet against slavery. Marcus Rediker told the story in his 2017 book, The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. And now there is the graphic novel, Prophet Against Slavery. It is authored by Rediker along with Paul Buhle. David Lester drew the dynamic and moving images. Read Gwen Gosney Erickson's review of the graphic novel in Friends Journal. You will also find an interview with David Lester, the illustrator of the graphic novel.  Click Here to read a transcript of this episode. After this episode concludes we share listener voicemails in answer to the question, What is a fictional story that has inspired you or challenged your world view? Question for next month: Today in the twenty-first century, what does redemption mean to you? We would love to hear and share what you have to say. Leave a voice memo with your name and the town where you live. The number to call is 317-QUAKERS, that's 317-782-5377 (+1 if calling from outside the United States or Canada). Please have your answers in by December 5, 2022.  Quakers Today is the companion podcast to Friends Journal and other Friends Publishing Corporation (FPC) content online.  Season One of Quakers Today is sponsored by Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS.)  Are you a young adult between 21 and 30 years old? Do you know a young adult who is looking for community and purpose-driven work? QVS is a year-long fellowship for young adults. Fellows work at nonprofits while building community and exploring Quakerism. Visit quakervoluntaryservice.org or find QVS on Instagram @quakervoluntaryservice.  Feel free to send comments, questions, and requests for our new show. Email us at podcast@friendsjournal.org.

Resistance by enslaved Africans before and after the Declaration of Independence  played a critical role in the origins of the US. Historian Gerald Horne joins us to discuss the fierce and persistent fight for abolition in the mainland slave colonies of the US.  We will look at three of Professor Horne's books on the topic. The Apocalypse of Settler-Colonialism: The roots of slavery, white supremacy, and capitalism in 17th-century North America and the Caribbean; The Counter-Revolution of 1776:  Slave resistance and the origins of the United States of America; and Negro Comrades of the Crown: African Americans and the British Empire fight the US before emancipation. This episode builds on our previous show 028 with Marcus Rediker on the slave ship and the story of resistance across the Middle Passage.

The trans-Atlantic slave ship was part factory, part prison, part war machine and it was a critical component in the establishment of race, class and capitalism in the Americas. MARCUS REDIKER is back on the show to discuss his book, The Slave Ship: A Human History, the first dedicated account of the vessel and the remarkable story of resistance that marked every aspect of its journey.

David Lester is the author and graphic designer of Prophet Against Slavery, Benjamin Lay: A Graphic Novel and he is the illustrator of 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike. David is also the guitarist for the bands, Mecca Normal and Horde of Two. This episode explores the subject of the book, Benjamin Lay, the radical Quaker who used guerrilla theatre to shame slave owners and traders, as well as the intersection of political activism and art in David's personal and professional history. This episode features the song “Malachi” by the band Mecca Normal. The episode ends with a look at David's future projects and the legacy of racism and how it continues to haunt contemporary America. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/176-david-lester.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/176-david-lester.html Bio: David Lester is a musician, graphic designer and graphic novelist. His most recent book is Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press) created with Marcus Rediker and Paul Buhle. He also illustrated "1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike", (published in English, German and French editions). 1919 was co-winner of the 2020 CAWLS Book Prize. Lester's poster of anti-war protester Malachi Ritscher was exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. He is the guitarist in the rock duo Mecca Normal, cited as an influence on the founders of the feminist social movement Riot Grrrl. He lives in Vancouver, Canada. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “From Dialogue to Action — with David Lester” Below the Radar, SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, June 14, 2022. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/176-david-lester.html.

This time Eric welcomes historian and author Marcus Rediker to CounterPunch Radio to discuss how the study of history can impact our politics today. Marcus explains what he means by studying "history from below" and how that perspective translates to our thinking of present day struggles. The conversation touches on the nature of slave resistance on the Atlantic, how and why that history has been suppressed, and the importance of unearthing it for future generations. Marcus also introduces the audience to the radical abolitionist Benjamin Lay and explains why Lay matters so much, even nearly 300 years after his death. So much important ground covered in this conversation with one of America's leading historians and radical scholars. Don't miss it! More The post Marcus Rediker appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

Who is the most fascinating historical figure that you have never heard of? David Lester and Marcus Rediker make a good case that it was Benjamin Lay. Based on Rediker's 2017 The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist, Lester has created a moving, engaging, and eye-opening graphic novel. Lay embodied inter-sectional resistance centuries before the term was coined. In the 18th century he not only fought against slavery and condemned racism but supported women's rights, criticized class disparities, and promoted the human treatment of animals. Lay was a vegetarian who lived in a humble cave with his beloved wife. He condemned the hypocrisy of the slave owning church leadership. The diminutive Lay engaged in powerful acts of guerilla theater that included smashing expensive Chinese porcelain in the public square and splashing fake blood about a Quaker meeting house. Well-known after his death as a founder of the abolitionist movement, post-Civil War white supremacists marginalized Benjamin Lay. Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay (Beacon Press, 2021) will revive the memory of this role model of speaking truth to power. David Lester is an author and graphic artist. His work includes but is not limited to 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada, Drawn To Change: Graphic Histories of Working Class Struggle, and The Listener, a graphic novel. He is also the guitarist for the underground duo Mecca Normal. Marcus Rediker is a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburg and a Guest Curator at the J. M. W. Turner Gallery, Tate Britain. He is the author of numerous books on the history of piracy, the slave trade, and the Atlantic world such as The Many Headed Hydra, The Slave Ship: A Human History, Villains of all Nations, Outlaws of the Atlantic, The Amistad, and The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf who became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he's not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's episode, AFROFILES' Leslie Rose talks with Dr. Marcus Rediker about the history of the Amistad Rebellion, a mutiny staged by enslaved Africans aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad in 1839. The vessel was ultimately taken into custody by the US Navy, and the 53 enslaved people were charged with piracy and murder. Their trial in New Haven, Connecticut became a lightning rod for US abolitionists, and the eventual repatriation of the defendants to Sierra Leone stands as a rare triumph in the story of resistance to the slave trade. Dr. Rediker has written extensively about the Amistad Rebellion and produced the documentary, Ghosts of Amistad: In the Footsteps of the Rebels, available here: https://www.ghostsofamistad.com/ Our theme music is from RYYZN, audio clips from Charlie Haffner's “Amistad Kata Kata.” If you're interested in learning more about the Amistad Rebellion, sharing this story in the classroom, or seeing a replica of the infamous shop, check out the organization Discovering Amistad here: https://www.discoveringamistad.org/

Tierra Johnson, a first-year student, examines Marcus Rediker's groundbreaking work, The Slave Ship. She highlights Rediker's thorough research of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

Marcus Rediker on The Golden Age of Piracy the revolutionary Atlantic, and the disruption of early capitalism on the seas.