The Counter-Revolution of 1776

Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America

By: Gerald Horne

Narrated by: Larry Herron

Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The successful 1776 revolt against British rule in North America has been hailed almost universally as a great step forward for humanity. But the Africans then living in the colonies overwhelmingly sided with the British. In this trailblazing book, Gerald Horne shows that in the prelude to 1776, the abolition of slavery seemed all but inevitable in London, delighting Africans as much as it outraged slaveholders, and sparking the colonial revolt.

Prior to 1776, anti-slavery sentiments were deepening throughout Britain and in the Caribbean, rebellious Africans were in revolt. For European colonists in America, the major threat to their security was a foreign invasion combined with an insurrection of the enslaved. It was a real and threatening possibility that London would impose abolition throughout the colonies - a possibility the founding fathers feared would bring slave rebellions to their shores. To forestall it, they went to war.

The so-called Revolutionary War, Horne writes, was in part a counter-revolution, a conservative movement that the founding fathers fought in order to preserve their right to enslave others. The Counter-Revolution of 1776 brings us to a radical new understanding of the traditional heroic creation myth of the United States.

©2014 New York University (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Great book!!!!

There is a new perspective to the narrative of American history, like the pieces of a puzzle this book explains some of the untold stories of a enslave people fighting for freedom and there right to exist as human beings and the European hegemony over African peoples and culture...Great book

an eye opener

an eye-opener and I think everyone should read it especially if they don't buy what they've been taught in schools. if you ever wondered about the origin of white supremacy and why it's continuing to be a problem around the world this book is a opener and a different perspective on the American Revolution which unlike most accounts this seems to be plausible.

I just love Gerald Horne!

Really good analysis on the events surrounding the war and leading up to it. I would love if many more Americans read this work. One thing that slightly irritated me was the narrators pronunciation of Cartagena phonetically instead of Carta-heh-nah. Small and insignificant but noticeable. I loved this read.

this book is a must-read.

mr. Horn Place a lot of information in this book that I wasn't taught in school and I do believe a lot of people need to read this book for themselves and check the facts to see if he's correct. I do believe the book is factual I do believe that he is correct and I do believe that a lot of people need to read this book.

A Truly Revolutionary History, Riveting and New

If you've always felt confused about the standard history book tropes of the "Revolutionary" war, this book is for you. Contemporary reviewers describe the first American war as hard to comprehend and filled with anachronistic irrelevancies, more myth than real, and not so important to the modern world. Like any world-changing historian, Horne proves all of those excuses to be offensive, pandering nonsense. He casually strips away the whitewashing of history and shows what the founding fathers were truly afraid of. That is, being made slaves like the chattel slaves they themselves held down. Horne writes from the point of view of common and enslaved persons. His groundbreaking and exciting POV is from the least powerful human bottom up, not top down as are literally all other histories of this time. The mythologized and romanticized Ben Franklin, for instance, is almost never mentioned, a relief to every reader of this War's history. Horne also directly connects this history to our present day moment. I've read all the major histories of the War and Founding and I've never read anything like the vast majority of this book. This history is shocking and almost immediately understood as a new truth, this is to say, the best type of history book. Immense original research went into this. In an era when most historians write their history books as a kind of expanded, cherry-picked Wikipedia of other author's works, my new favorite historian Gerald Horne shows just how new history can be. For those who throw elitist hate on the reader of this book, please get over it! This is an independent author not funded by Disney or some mega-publisher. Perhaps many reviewers fail to understand how little money such books make and how expensive readers are to hire, especially for such a complex book. Downrating such a book because of an average reader alone does everyone a disservice. If you reviewers can't parse a mispronounced word here and there then no audiobook will ever please you. Support this author. No one else is writing so much newly discovered truth that is so essential to understanding the USA.

This Should Be Required Reading for All

This is an excellent book on a topic that needs more attention and examination.

Some of the narrators pronunciations need work. His butchering of “Cartagena” deserves special mention. The way he treats “mainland” as if it were two words is also grating, but they are small prices to pay.

very informative.

Lots of neglected history. Wish we had more written accounts from the free/enslaved Africans point of view. Good research.

Dr Horne is an eminent researcher his effort benefits us all

Thank You Dr. Horne you connect the historical facts concisely and in my opinion accurately the analytical bridges connect details such that historical conundrums are explained wonderfully

Europe creates racism in America

A whole new perspective regarding the motivations and causes for the American experiment. Must read for anyone interested in the reasons for racism in this country. it appears it was unavoidable given the machinations of the European powers of the time.

Hidden History

Mr. Horne makes this critical period interesting to read for African Americans because of the illumination of so many strange & unaddressed aspects slavery created that's been collectively hidden via omission. The way Horne tells it, had the wind blown in another direction during that period in mid 1600's we could be in a very different place. Very uplifting.

"We never knew how close we got" - Steve Cokely