Revolution by Fire

Description

Revolution by Fire
by David Lester

ISBN: 9780807012550
Softcover, new

Brief Description:
Based on the little known real life “Slave Insurrection” of 1741, this book
imagines outlaw fugitive John Gwin and an eclectic crew of renegades as
they attempt to disrupt and overthrow the colonial social order Rebel
fugitive John Gwin was previously introduced in Under the Banner of King
Death and this graphic novel continues his adventures. Revolution by Fire
is a hypothetical look at the inner workings of the so called “New York
Conspiracy” or “Slave Rebellion” of 1741, following the figures who were
considered the real-life masterminds of the plot. Featuring an eclectic
crew of African-American, Irish, and mixed race Hispanic sailors, soldiers,
and renegades, Gwin and his band are determined to capture New York City in
their own names and fight the higher class “wigs and ruffles” wearing white
people. Unfortunately for the conspirators, suspicions about an uprising
were already in the minds of the Governor and his fellow elites, and the
events that followed change the course of everyone’s lives forever. Based
on the chapter titled “Outcasts of the Nations of the Earth” in Rediker’s
and Peter Linebaugh’s The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners,
and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic, the book provides a
fly-on-the-wall view of a historical event reimagined, highlighting
cooperation among races and classes that transcends the social order of its
time—and inspire us today.