Jack Tar vs. John Bull: The Role of New York's Seamen in Precipitating the Revolution

by Jesse Lemisch

Overview

This classic study explores the role of merchant seamen in precipitating the American revolution. It analyzes the participation of seamen in impressment riots, the Stamp Act Riot, the Battle of Golden Hill, and other incidents. The book describes these events and explores the social world of the seamen, offering explanations for their actions. Focusing on the culture, politics, and experiences of early American seamen, this legendary study played an important role in the development of histories of the common people and has inspired generations of social and early American historians. Lemisch's later related article, Jack Tar in the Streets, was named one of the ten most important articles ever published in the prestigious William and Mary Quarterly. Long unavailable, this edition includes an index and an appreciative foreword by Marcus Rediker, author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750 (Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University, 1962)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317731894
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/28/2015
Series:	Studies in African American History and Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	344 KB

About the Author

Jesse Lemisch Department of History John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Who Was Jack Tar?; Chapter 2 Impressment of Seamen in Colonial New York; Chapter 3 Jack Tar on the Beach: The Birth of the Mob; Chapter 4 Jack Tar in the Streets: The Stamp Act Crisis; Chapter 5 Jack Tar in the Streets: Before the Mast of Liberty, 1766–1770;

Editorial Reviews

Explores the role of merchant seamen in sparking the struggle for US independence in such incidents as impressment riots, the Stamp Act Riot, and the Battle of Golden Hill, and describes the social world of the seamen to explain their actions. Lemisch is considered a pioneer of New Left history and his 1962 doctoral dissertation for Yale University is published here for the first time after being an underground classic since then. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

"...a very well-crafted price of work that reminds historians that it is possible to be sympathetic to those in subordinate positions in society without idealizing them." — Labor History
"..refreshing both for its meticulous research and the contribution it makes to our understanding of the complex relationship between class conflicts within the British colonies and the colonial struggle for independence from Great Britain." — Against the Current
"...grounded in a remarkably exhaustive and creative use of primary and secondary resources." — New Politics

From the Publisher