A Renegade History of the United States

By: Thaddeus Russell

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Historian Howard Zinn demonstrated that there are compelling, alternative histories that are both scholarly and valuable. Now, Thaddeus Russell provides a challenging new way of reading history that will turn convention on its head and is sure to elicit as much controversy as it does support.

Russell shows that drunkards, laggards, prostitutes, and pirates were the real heroes of the American Revolution. Slaves worked less and had more fun than free men. Prostitutes, not feminists, won women's liberation. White people lost their rhythm when they became good Americans. Without organized crime, we might not have Hollywood, Las Vegas, labor unions, legal alcohol, birth control, or gay rights. Zoot-suiters and rock-and-rollers, not Ronald Reagan or the peace movement, brought down the Soviet Union. And Britney Spears will win the war on terror.

It was not the elitists who created real revolution in America nor the political radicals whom Zinn credits, but the people on the fringes of society who laid the foundation for change and were responsible for many of the freedoms we cherish today. American history was driven by clashes between those interested in preserving social order and those more interested in pursuing their own desires---the "respectable" versus the "degenerate", the moral versus the immoral, "good citizens" versus the "bad". The more that "bad" people existed, resisted, and won, the greater was our common good.

In A Renegade History of the United States, Russell introduces us to the origins of our nation's identity as we have never known them before.

©2010 Thaddeus Russel (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This is a fun read that makes a serious point. Even drunkards, whores, black pleasure-seekers, gangsters, and drag queens have contributed to American culture, and sometimes in surprising ways." (W. J. Rorabaugh, professor of history, University of Washington, and author of The Alcoholic Republic)

Fascinating perspective

It's funny how much you're not taught in school. This was such an interesting read full of fun and odd facts about the people who creates America. Highly recommend.

eye opener!!

love love loved it. going to listen over and over. what a good history book.

It's ok

I feel this book is long winded. The author droned on a bit on each topic and the narrator was a bit news casty

HOLD ON - not your classroom history book

WOW, this is the back alley of history in the US. You'll learn things in here that nobody would dare teach in a classroom. This is tabloid type history lesson where nothing is held back. This is the greasy sh*t you want to know about and not the whitewashed facade we got in school.

Great alternative look at history

This book gives an account of American history from a different view than what we are taught in public schools. I've always been a fan of Howard Zinn's Peoples History, but Russell presents it from yet another angle. Loved it.