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"Revolution by Fire" with David Lester and Marcus Rediker

Co-presented with the Prince George's County Office of Human Rights

The Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights and Prince George’s County Memorial Library System presents a conversation with author and illustrator David Lester and author Marcus Rediker to discuss their new graphic novel, "Revolution by Fire: New York's Afro-Irish Uprising of 1741, a Graphic Novel."

About the book:

Based on the little known real life “Slave Insurrection” of 1741, this book imagines outlaw fugitive John Gwin and an eclectic crew of renegades as they attempt to disrupt and overthrow the colonial social order.

Rebel fugitive John Gwin was previously introduced in "Under the Banner of King Death" and this graphic novel continues his adventures. "Revolution by Fire" is a hypothetical look at the inner workings of the so-called “New York Conspiracy” or “Slave Rebellion” of 1741, following the figures who were considered the real-life masterminds of the plot.

Featuring an eclectic crew of African-American, Irish, and mixed-race Hispanic sailors, soldiers, and renegades, Gwin and his band are determined to capture New York City in their own names and fight the higher class “wigs and ruffles” wearing white people. Unfortunately for the conspirators, suspicions about an uprising were already in the minds of the Governor and his fellow elites, and the events that followed change the course of everyone’s lives forever.

Based on the chapter titled “Outcasts of the Nations of the Earth” in Rediker’s and Peter Linebaugh’s "The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic," the book provides a fly-on-the-wall view of a historical event reimagined, highlighting cooperation among races and classes that transcends the social order of its time—and inspire us today.

About the authors: 

David Lester illustrated the award-winning "1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike." He illustrated "Prophet against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, a Graphic Novel, (Beacon, 2021)" and "Villains of All Nations into Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, a Graphic Novel (Beacon 2023)." He is the guitarist in the rock duo Mecca Normal.

Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of several books including "The Amistad Rebellion (Viking 2012)" and "The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (Beacon 2000)." He worked with David Lester and Paul Buhle to adapt his book "The Fearless Benjamin Lay (2017)" into "Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, a Graphic Novel (Beacon, 2021)" and "Villains of All Nations into Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, a Graphic Novel (Beacon 2023)."