They recreate the rhythms of daily life, clarify the impact of political and social changes on working people, and help us appreciate how these women and men-not just the country's founding fathers--were truly "keepers of the revolution."
Paul A. Gilje and Howard B. Rock provide a general introduction to New York after independence and then devote sections of the book to apprentices, journeymen, master craftsmen, waterfront workers, blacks, and women. Most sections are anchored by several first-person accounts--autobiographies and reminiscences and include advertisements, courtcase testimony, newspaper reports, broadsides, appeals to Congress--all the colorful detail that can be used to illuminate the immediate, personal, lived experience of individuals of that particular time and place. A stunning group of illustrations adds to the reader's sense of the flavor and appearance of the rapidly growing city.
Keepers of the Revolution will find appreciative readers among labor, social, urban, and early American historians, as well as antique collectors and antiquarians interested in early New York.