This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“The only thing that could make men forsake their own freedom and still believe they were free was self-rule. A government of the people, John Adams argued, would make the people discipled, stern, hard working, and joyless – the qualities he most admired.” – Thaddeus Russell, Chapter 1: Drunkards, Laggards, Prostitutes, Pirates, And Other Heroes Of The American Revoluation, Page 39
“By then many Americans had subscribed to the philosophies of the Founding Fathers and had devoted themselves to the rigors of democratic life. But despite the best efforts of the nation’s founders to train the people for self-governance, “decadence” and “vice” did not disappear in the early years of the republic. Drinking increased. The cities, with their saloons and prostitutes and illicit couplings, grew exponentially. New, mass-produced goods introduced luxuries to common people. Poor folk, even slaves, began to dress ostentatiously. And many of the newly rich resembled the aristocracies of Europe. Facilitating all of this vice was a new economic order that Adams, Jefferson, and most of the Founding Fathers feared.” – Thaddeus Russell, Chapter 1: Drunkards, Laggards, Prostitutes, Pirates, And Other Heroes Of The American Revoluation, Page 54
“Partly out of necessity, partly for independence, and partly from their devotion to the Protestant work ethic, the first American colonists eliminated many forms of leisure enjoyed by those who remained in England, including various folk dances, singing festivals, communal feasts and games, and scores of holidays. Work only grew more intense in the eighteenth century, when patterns of labor moved from seasonal to continuous schedules in every part of the colonial economy. By the start of the nineteenth century, most households had added manufacturing to their grueling agricultural production.” – Thaddeus Russell, Chapter 2: The Freedom Of Slavery, Page 63
Is This An Overview?
American political and moral elite have not thought kindly of the way everyone else behaved. Too many vices, too much leisure, too irresponsible, too free. External controls seemed to be too totalitarian, therefore the reformers such as the Founding Fathers wanted to replace them with internal controls. Self-rule was meant to make people responsible. As through democracy, would people have an interest in their own future, and therefore change their behavior.
This is a history of America’s struggle for personal liberties, a moral clash in society. As there were those trying to make people responsible, there were also those who wanted the freedom to do what they wanted. These are the renegades. Activist who changed culture by behaving the way they wanted to. During a time of repression, renegades fought for various freedoms and made socially acceptable the behaviors that seemed repulsive. They fought for: diverse entertainment in arts, dance, music, and movies; time away from work and the pursuit of leisure; racial and ethnic integration of establishments; sexual liberty to be with whom they wanted to be with no matter the race, ethnicity, or sex of the partner. The renegades came from diverse backgrounds and diverse cultures, such as slaves, prostitutes, gangsters, African Americans, Jews, Irish, and Italian. Renegades who were often mistreated by society, but changed the American culture.
Caveats?
This book shares a host of socially sensitive topics. Topics that could have been handled a bit more sensitively. This book shares a diverse set of values that has changed American culture, but explanations of the events are sometimes given a too simple and one-sided narrative, without caveats. For a book on renegades and diversity, there seems to be too much homogeneity in how the different sides treated others and were treated themselves.
