1789: Twelve Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change

Aronson and Bartoletti (1968: Today’s Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change) offer a timely deep dive into another turbulent and pivotal year of history: 1789. Thought-provoking essays by 12 nonfiction authors rewind to the period when structures of imperialism and slavery collided with Enlightenment ideas of individual rights and freedoms. Cynthia and Sanford Levinson examine unresolved contradictions in U.S. founding documents in “Who Counted in America?”—while Joyce Hansen’s “All Men Are Created Equal” recounts the life of Olaudah Equiano, a Methodist abolitionist who was enslaved as a child and published his famous autobiography in 1789. In “The Choice,” Aronson details the complex negotiations between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in Paris on the eve of the French Revolution. The conversational narrative styles will pull readers into this wide-ranging, thoroughly researched anthology, which recounts revolutions and revolutionary thinking big and small. Extensive author and source notes and a bibliography conclude this stirring read about themes that continue to shape urgent contemporary issues. Ages 12–up. [em](Sept.) [/em]