The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions: Volume 1, The Enlightenment and the British Colonies

Offers a revisionist approach to the concept of 'Enlightenment' and reveals the American Revolution in all its complexity.

Wim Klooster (General editor)

9781108476034, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 November 2023

800 pages
23.6 x 16.1 x 3.1 cm, 1.05 kg

'The volume … traces revolution in both the Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic. The volume reveals the tension within the normative narrative of revolution as transition from top-down-declining-empire to participatory-bottom-up-new sovereign-nation, for nearly half of the twenty-two contributors deeply contradict this narrative.' Jorge Canizares-Esguerra, LER HISTORIA

Volume I offers an introduction to the Enlightenment, which served as the shared background for virtually all revolutionary turmoil, and the American Revolution, which inaugurated the Age of Revolutions. Beginning with a thorough introduction, the volume covers international rivalry, the importance of slavery, and the reformist mind-set that prevailed on the eve of the revolutionary era. It addresses the traditional argument on whether the Enlightenment truly caused revolutions, concluding that the reverse is more apt: revolutions helped create the Enlightenment as a body of thought. The volume continues with a regional and thematic assessment of the American Revolution, revealing how numerous groups in British America – including Black and indigenous people – pursued their own agendas and faced interests at odds with the principles of the revolution.

Introduction Wim Klooster
Part I. Enlightenment and culture: 1. Enlightenment and the American Caroline Winterer
2. Enlightenment and the French Revolution Johnson Kent Wright
3. Enlightenment and the Ibero-American Revolutions Brian Hamnett
4. Cultural practices and revolutions, ca. 1760–1825 Nathan Perl-Rosenthal
Part II. The British Colonies: 5. The revolution in British America: General overview Mark Peterson
6. The myth of “salutary neglect”: Empire and revolution in the long eighteenth century Holly Brewer
7. The British Atlantic on the eve of American independence Patrick Griffin
8. Cities and citizenship in revolution Jessica Choppin Roney
9. The other British colonies Trevor Burnard
10. The participation of France and Spain Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia
11. Britain, Ireland, and the American Revolution ca. 1763–1785 Stephen Conway
12. A contest of wills: The spectrum and experience of political violence in the American Revolution Wayne E. Lee
13. Recovering loyalism: Opposition to the American Revolution as a good idea Liam Riordan
14. White women and the American Revolution Ami Pflugrad-Jackisch
15. Blacks in the British colonies James Sidbury
16. Life, land, and liberty: The Native Americans' revolution Colin Calloway
17. Shaping the constitution Max Edling
18. Reform and rebellion in Spanish America at the time of the American Revolution Anthony McFarlane
19. International warfare and the non-British Caribbean Wim Klooster
20. Interpreting a symbol of progress and regression: European views of America's revolution and early republic, 1780–1790 Lloyd Kramer.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]