By Nancy Spannaus
Aug. 21, 2024—Before I decided to self-publish Defeating Slavery: Hamilton’s American System Showed the Way on Amazon, I sent out dozens of query letters to university presses, in hopes of finding a traditional publisher. Among the many mostly polite rejections, one stood out to me: we don’t publish “`big argument’ books as you are proposing here,” the editorial director wrote.
That’s a good characterization, I thought to myself. Because my approach to American history in Hamilton Versus Wall Street and Defeating Slavery, and on this blog, is precisely to provoke thought about the big questions and ideas that have been at stake over the period of the founding and our existence. It is most unfortunate, of course, that major publishing houses do not have this perspective.
Thus, I am happy to announce the availability of two new videos which feature me talking at some length about those ideas.
Hamilton’s Revolutionary Challenge to Today’s World
On Friday August 16, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by noted American history author Anton Chaitkin[1] on the subject of Alexander Hamilton. For approximately an hour, Tony and I discussed Hamilton’s unique, indispensable, and revolutionary achievements in building the United States, while taking on a number of the prevalent myths about this most controversial founding father.
I think you will find this rather fast-moving discussion an engaging and stimulating antidote to the relative vapidity of the discussion of our history and the economic issues facing our nation today. It is also a direct answer or rebuke to the latest book on Hamilton by William Hogeland, which is being featured on NPR and elsewhere. You can access the video by clicking here.
Unravelling the World Historic Achievement Called the American Revolution
The second video features a nearly two-hour presentation and discussion sponsored by Matt Ehret’s Rising Tide Foundation on Aug. 4, on the subject headlined above. My talk involves an in-depth view of the causes of the American Revolution, taking the process up to our declaration of nationhood in the Declaration of Independence. You can access the video by clicking here.
While the content of this video heavily overlaps that of part 1 of my series “In preparation for America’s 250th birthday: The Core Principles of the American Revolution,” which is already on my You Tube site, the technical quality is much improved, and you get the benefit of the ensuing dialogue.
You will note that my outline of the causes puts a strong focus on the Empire’s economic oppression of the American colonists—an emphasis very often eclipsed in covering this topic. Americans rightly believed they were being robbed of their natural rights to development and progress. A review of Alexander Hamilton’s 1774-75 writings in defense of the First Continental Congress, which I presented in my June talk at the Fort Plain conference on the American Revolution, is a useful complement to this video.
Once you view these videos, I hope you will take the next step by ordering Defeating Slavery and Hamilton Versus Wall Street, both of which are available in soft cover and e-book online.
[1] Chaitkin’s latest book is Who We Are : America’s Fight for Universal Progress, from Franklin to Kennedy, Volume 1: 1750s to 1850s. Volume 2 will soon be available.
Tags: Alexander Hamilton, American history, Anton Chaitkin, Nancy Spannaus