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.

Great story and narration

I really enjoyed this book. Like the other reviewer, I was a bit surprised to hear a British accent from the narrator, but Simon Vance is one of the very best narrators. (He also uses the names Richard Matthews and Robert Whitfield, but they're all the same man).

This book provides rich historical detail about the very early days of the United States. The author does an excellent job providing background information. So the chapter on Herman Husband, who believed the (then) Western US (ie Western PA and VA) would be the New Jerusalem of Revelation, is really an excellent overview of all the religious currents running through American society at the time.

There's also great detail on the debate over federal taxation and Hamilton's agency in getting the whiskey excise tax implemented.

The reason for 4 stars and not 5 is that the author's explanation of the unfolding of the Rebellion is so compressed as to lack sense. This is surprising since his attention to detail everywhere else in the book is so thorough.

I would also recommend this book only to those who already have an interest in early American history. For the more general reader, I suggest 1776 and Washington's Crossing.

I learned that we have not changed

Good narrative and narrator.
The treatment of the poor and underclasses as told in general is horrifying and this tale sheds a new light for me on our nation’s origin story. We still have the rich stealing from the less wealthy and why should that be surprising…

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.