The Whiskey Rebellion

De: William Hogeland

Narrado por: Simon Vance

A gripping and provocative tale of violence, alcohol, and taxes, The Whiskey Rebellion pits President George Washington and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton against angry, armed settlers across the Appalachians. Unearthing a pungent segment of early American history long ignored by historians, William Hogeland brings to startling life the rebellion that decisively contributed to the establishment of federal authority.

In 1791, at the frontier headwaters of the Ohio River, gangs with blackened faces began to attack federal officials, beating and torturing the collectors who plagued them with the first federal tax ever laid on an American product, whiskey. In only a few years, those attacks snowballed into an organized regional movement dedicated to resisting the fledgling government's power and threatening secession, even civil war.

With an unsparing look at both Hamilton and Washington, and at lesser-known, equally determined frontier leaders such as Herman Husband and Hugh Henry Brackenridge, journalist and popular historian William Hogeland offers an insightful, fast-paced account of the remarkable characters who perpetrated this forgotten revolution, and those who suppressed it. To Hamilton, the whiskey tax was key to industrial growth and could not be permitted to fail. To hard-bitten people in what was then the wild West, the tax paralyzed their economies while swelling the coffers of greedy creditors and industrialists. To President Washington, the settlers' resistance catalyzed the first-ever deployment of a huge federal army, led by the president himself, a military strike to suppress citizens who threatened American sovereignty.

Daring, finely crafted, by turns funny and darkly poignant, The Whiskey Rebellion promises a surprising trip for readers unfamiliar with this primal national drama, whose climax is not the issue of mere taxation but the very meaning and purpose of the American Revolution.

©2006 William Hogeland (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.

Great listen and great narrator.

The book deals with the events surrounding the rebellion focusing on the political, social, and economic sources of the hostilities. Great detail is given from the point of view of the westerns which is often neglected from most accounts of the whiskey rebellion. Hogeland always does a great job of pulling minute details out of dusty sources and giving them new life in his writings. Simon Vance is as always spot on with a great cadence and tone that makes the listen enjoyable. If you enjoy early American history this is a great book on a subject that often gets neglected.

Awesome

I've listened to hundreds of Audible titles and dozens of great books. This is among the best. This is a portrait of Hamilton I've not read elsewhere and I learned that as far back as the founding, well-connected members of the government were striving to crush our liberties and bring us into bondage to a hyper-active central government. The book is not a Libertarian screed however and its treatment of all sides is very fair. It does move about quickly and take some sharp turns which is why I'll take the time to listen to it again. I can truly say I learned a ton of new information despite having read dozens of titles about this period of US history. A truly great book.

fascinating history

I grew up in and around Pittsburgh, but never truly learned about the whiskey rebellion - school quickly brushed over it and I now find that unbelievable. Imagine the field trips we could have done! All the engaged learning!

There are several memorable quotes from this book; I am enjoying retelling what I am learning.

You'd figure this would be more interesting

It's got whiskey and rebellion that should be interesting. But nope, I quit this audiobook when it got bogged down in financial policy minutiae and it was boring me to tears. The book was great until it hit that snag, or stayed on that snag a bit too long.

Decent audiobook

This was my first audio book encounter with this portion of our American history.

I found the story somewhat hard to follow, and the narrators accent a bit of a distraction. Even so, I think it was a good purchase and I will recommend this title to friends interested in early politics of the U.S.