Cradle of Violence

By Russell Bourne,

Book cover of Cradle of Violence: How Boston's Waterfront Mobs Ignited the American Revolution

Book description

They did the dirty work of the American Revolution

Their spontaneous uprisings and violent actions steered America toward resistance to the Acts of Parliament and finally toward revolution. They tarred and feathered the backsides of British customs officials, gutted the mansion of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson, armed themselves with marline…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Cradle of Violence as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This story of brawny, boisterous working rebels spins the tale of the Revolution from the perspective of the oft-oppressed maritime population of Boston and neighboring ports.

These two-fisted sailors, fishermen, dockworkers, fugitive slaves, rope-spinners, and shipwrights were the first to take to the streets in the rebel cause. Their names, with the exception of the fiery Crispus Attucks, did not make the history texts but their impact was felt all the way to London.

Bourne gives us a chronicle so real you can smell the salty air and the tar as these angry patriots set out with tar and feathers.…

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Book cover of The Deviant Prison: Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary and the Origins of America's Modern Penal System, 1829-1913

The Deviant Prison by Ashley Rubin,

What were America's first prisons like? How did penal reformers, prison administrators, and politicians deal with the challenges of confining human beings in long-term captivity as punishment--what they saw as a humane intervention?

The Deviant Prison centers on one early prison: Eastern State Penitentiary. Built in Philadelphia, one of the…

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