Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers
Written by Michael Barone
Narrated by Stephen Hoye
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
In a work of popular history that stands with recent favorites such as David McCullough's 1776 and Joseph J. Ellis's Founding Brothers, Michael Barone brings the story of this unlikely and largely bloodless revolt to American readers and reveals that, without the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution may never have happened.
Unfolding in 1688-1689, Britain's Glorious Revolution resulted in the hallmarks of representative government, guaranteed liberties, the foundations of global capitalism, and a foreign policy of opposing aggressive foreign powers. But as Barone shows, there was nothing inevitable about the Glorious Revolution. It sprang from the character of the English people and depended on the talents, audacity, and good luck of two men: William of Orange (later William III of England), who launched history' s last successful cross-channel invasion, and John Churchill, an ancestor of Winston, who commanded the forces of the deposed James II but crossed over to support William one fateful November night.
The story of the Glorious Revolution is a rich and riveting saga of palace intrigue, loyalty and shocking betrayal, and bold political and military strategizing. With narrative drive, a sure command of historical events, and unforgettable portraits of kings, queens, soldiers, parliamentarians, and a large cast of full-blooded characters, Barone takes an episode that has fallen into unjustified obscurity and restores it to the prominence it deserves. Especially now, as we face enemies who wish to rid the world of the lasting legacies of the Glorious Revolution-democracy, individual rights, and capitalism among them-it is vitally important that we understand the origins of these blessings.
Michael Barone
Michael Barone is a a journalist and former political consultant, senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner and resident fellow emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a founder and longtime principal co-author of The Almanac of American Politics and is the author of six other books on American history and politics and its British heritage. He has worked for the Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report and has written for many other publications. He grew up in Detroit and Birmingham, Michigan, and is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, and was an editor of the Harvard Crimson and the Yale Law Journal.
Related to Our First Revolution
Related audiobooks
The Pursuit of Glory: The Five Revolutions that Made Modern Europe: 1648-1815 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89: Fourth Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51848: Year of Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Revolution: The War for Independence and the Birth of the United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The American Revolution: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Knew They Were Pilgrims: Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The English Civil Wars: 1640-1660 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Heritage History of the American Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution and the Fate of the Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History of the Thirty Years War, Volume 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Radicalism of the American Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whig Party: The History and Legacy of the Influential Political Party in 19th Century America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688, Volume 1B Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Hancock: Merchant King and American Patriot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat the Founding Fathers were Really Like (and What We can Learn from Them Today): (and What We Can Learn From Them Today) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-1648 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry Clay: The Essential American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edmund Burke: The First Conservative Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
European History For You
The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The War on the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Napoleon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of American Cemeteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: with Pearl and Sir Orfeo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History that Inspired Game of Thrones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Templars: The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ancient Mythology: An Extensive Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Worship, Rituals and Beliefs of Ancient Myths Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghost Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reformation: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Teutonic Knights: A Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most Foul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Our First Revolution
45 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History at its best. When I first read the title to this book I couldn't help but thinking, "huh." Once I started the book though I was able to connect the dots and I learned a ton of history. Anytime reading about European roalty it can be enormously confusing, but Barone walks us through the roalty labyrinth with clarity. I also like reading Barone's weekly article and blog writing. Keen insight into to todays political environment.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A straightforward narrative history of Britain's 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688. This is as rigorous as popular history gets: Barone cites his sources scrupulously, and he cites to the leading academic syntheses of the last two decades. Given Barone's career as a political journalist, it's not surprising that this volume emphasizes the ins and outs of politics under Charles II and James II; it's a political wonk's history. Readers more interested in social trends or the full personalities of the major historical figures will find this a dry read, or at least incomplete. But as a basic narrative history, it's a great introduction to the Revolution of 1688. One quibble: in his introduction, Barone argues that the Revolution of 1688 has received much less attention in the U.S. than it deserves: "this First Revolution was ...a long step forward toward the kind of society we take for granted now. It provided the backdrop for the amazing growth, prosperity, and military success of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain -- and for the American Revolution and the even more amazing growth, prosperity, and military success of the United States." But this interpretation isn't new; it's the heart of traditional Whig history, the view that 1688 is best understood as one step in the long unfolding of British history to generate the modern, democratic, relatively free market state. Plenty of American historians have articulated this view (especially through the 1800s); fewer recently in academia because it imposes current values retroactively, and is now viewed as a sloppy way to do history. Fortunately, Barone's Whig impulse doesn't prejudice most of his narrative -- which, after all, is based closely on the work of modern, post-Whig academic historians -- and it's possible ignore this theme in his introduction and conclusion.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A good book on the 1680s outing of King James by William of Orange leading to the reign of William and Mary.