The Long Revolution
Creating a United States After 1776
Contributors
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Jun 2, 2026
- Page Count
- 272 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781541606654
Price
$17.99Price
$22.99 CADFormat
Format:
- ebook $17.99 $22.99 CAD
- Hardcover $30.00 $40.00 CAD
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In the century after Independence, many Americans believed that their Revolution was still in progress. Far from a unifying national myth, the Revolution was for generations of Americans a source of radically conflicting political ideas. Nowhere was this clearer than on the Fourth of July, when Americans gathered for speeches that, as one orator put it in 1834, aimed to “examine the present, and to look forward to the future.”
In The Long Revolution, historian Nathan Perl-Rosenthal mines thousands of Independence Day orations to offer a stirring and revelatory new history of this long American Revolution. In the words of local notables and national celebrities, men and women, white and Black, he identifies the contrasting visions, intense anxieties, and radical power evoked by the Revolution deep into the nineteenth century.
This is a history of the American founding for today’s fragmented and anxious political moment, helping us find a usable past to guide us toward our own uncertain future.
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“An unexpected source of historical insights.”Kirkus
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“Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, a brilliant young historian, has figured out a way of performing a CT scan on the early American soul: by reviewing almost 2,500 Fourth of July orations delivered during the first hundred years of the United States. The result is a memorable, and clarifying, portrait of a nation that was still figuring out what it was—an urgent project back then, and one that we might revive now.”Nicholas Lemann, Columbia Journalism School
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“The Long Revolution is a timely and elegant national birthday present. At a time of backlash and complacency, Nathan Perl-Rosenthal shows us how generative and questioning the Fourth of July could be—and for whom.”David Waldstreicher, author of The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley
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“On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is a very good idea to explore how July Fourth was celebrated in its first century. In this clever and surprising book, Nathan Perl-Rosenthal shows us that orators from all walks of life used the occasion to tell the story of the American Revolution not as something over and done but as an ongoing and unfinished transformation.”Sophia Rosenfeld, author of The Age of Choice
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“By mining a trove of Fourth of July speeches delivered in our nation’s first century, historian Nathan Perl-Rosenthal has unearthed some enduring preoccupations that Americans have had about their republic—their pride, their fears, their aspirations, but above all their conviction that the republic is an experiment requiring unremitting care. In a low, dishonest period in our history, this surprisingly timely book reminds us of our responsibilities."Mark Lilla, author of The Once and Future Liberal
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