Race and Revolution - Book Report/Review Example

Race and Revolution Nash, G. B. (2001). Race and revolution. US: Rowman & Littlefield. About the author Gary Baring Nash was born on July 27, 1933 and had his degrees from the Princeton University. After taking the degrees he served in the US navy for three years. Thereon he went on to become an assistant to the Dean of the Graduate School. That was only the beginning of his steady and speedy journey through the different stages of his academic career. In 1964 he joined in the faculty of Princeton as an instructor and in 1965 he became an assistant professor. He then moved to California there he first became an associate professor and later a full professor from 1972 onwards. He is a wonderful author, co-author, and co-editor and has published thirteen books, forty-five articles, and many book reviews. The book demonstrates how the early colonials had identified the ideals of complete abolition of slavery. Overview Race and Revolution is a well written concise book on the revolutionary periods of America. Slavery has been a peculiar topic for discussion both socially and politically in the state over the decades since the colonist arrived four hundred years ago. Nash has really changed a lot of wrong conclusion of many about the slavery during that period. He says that Americans had lost interest in constitutionally freeing the African American slaves. He discussed whether it was the northerners who had less interest in slavery or the political leaders who battled to bring the colonies out from the British control. Throughout the book Nash holds the view of freeing the slaves as he often creates situations that are in accordance with, as he writes, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights” (p.80). In the first part he describes the beginning of abolitionism taking place in a revelutionary generation and in the second part he portraits abolitionism facing the problem of failure. In the third part he explains the role of black Americans in the revolutionary movements. The hostile whites didn’t accept the slaves in an equal position to them. Nash says how the slaves responded to such situation. Race and Revolution: Content To historians of the twentieth-century the question of race was only a matter of less attention which is mentioned by Staughton Lynd in his essays (cited in Nash, 2001, p. 4). Nation’ leaders excused the need for abolishing slavery as they thought the matter to be usual situation. From 1950 to 1960 the Consensus historians made new judgments on abolitionism. They found that the topic of abolitionism was worth studying, but that mere study could not contribute anything to the efforts of the revolutionary generation. Thus the readers of America history found that the historians were ‘impractical, immoderate’ and against the revolutions (Nash, P. 5). Nothing could resolve the America’s race problem, even the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. The historians of our era give an explanation for the failure of the revolutionary generation to abolish slavery. If the leaders had forced to abolish the slavery then the southern states would have lost the political union, which was a little shaky after the war. However there had been chances to abolish the slavery as the new system called environmentalism was introduced and it was at its peak stage. Environmentalism was against slavery and suggested for the abolition of it. The American historians were not willing to speak about the anti-slavery revolutions. Creating a political system was the major consideration of historians rather than intervening into the issues of slavery. While in the steps taken for the rejoining of the union caused the oppression of the slaves. If south was forced to abolish slavery then Georgia and Carolina would disagree in joining the union. If there had been further problems in the union, it might have caused a “war of the races, or… frightful oppression of the slaves” (Nash, 2001, p.6). Nash believes that the defense for the constitutional rights and liberties were not the real reasons for the American revolutions. The social and economic factors should be considered in analyzing the situation. As well as the material conditions prevailed in the state could be a reason for the push for revolution. Nash throughout his book reveals a truth that the people who were interested in the freedom of slaves were actually slave owners themselves. They were not sincerely willing to free their slaves. Nash gives the examples of Benjamin Rush and Allison. On his death bed Allison even went as far as giving rights of his slaves to his heirs. The actions taken to free the slaves faced another important question of economic problem. There were two aspects about this problem. Who would compensate the slave owners if slaves were given freedom? And how would the slaves survive if they are freed and sent to the society. Nash has mentioned about the support from the revolutionary generation in his four essays. The first state to abolish the slavery has been Pennsylvania in 1780. Some of the leading leaders of the revolution in the white dominated community were ‘Jupiter Hammon, James Forten, Prince Hall, and Richard Allen’ (Nash, 2001, 69). Nash identifies the situation of African slaves with that of the slaves in Egypt, a classical story from the bible. They were led out of Egypt by Moses. And now these slaves were waiting for a Moses-like person to free them (183). The book basically deals with the strong urge for abolitionism seen in the revolutionaries. Nash describes how the black community, once they were free responded when there was failure in the revolution’s promise. It had become a strong and consistent plea for justice. However they tried to build their own African-American intuitions within the hostile atmosphere in which they succeeded. These themes make Nash one of the very few historians who saw the history in a different perspective. His efforts had turned the book into a historically relevant material, which many other historians could not do. Structure Nash has written the book in six chapters, the first three are of his ideas and views, and the last three are of supporting documents for his chapters. He has taken many incidents and events from the history to describe the issues of slavery. In the second part of the book he has included essays and articles of well known writers to state that there are others too who hold the same view as he did. Nash has taken many examples from the past to support his views and ideas on the subject. He has extracted the famous essays of Arthur Lee (Address on Slavery) (91), as a supporting evidence for his first chapter. Lee, in his essays speaks about the alarming growth of slave population. Historical Relevance Writing of this book was a relevant matter at that period when people had a different idea about the slavery in America. Often in schools, students were taught that regarding the issue of slavery the colonial society was not aware at all. Besides that the slaves also too were ignorant of anything. However, Nash’s book Race and Revolution reveals that it was only an absolute falsehood. We can see the author’s view that time is not the only factor that determines the history. The economic forces of a country have a significant role in the changes of history. The development or decline in the economy of a country has a great effect on the history. Apart from the economic forces, the geographical diversity too has considerable chances to make changes in the present situation. The author has clearly expressed his thoughts on the problems of slavery. With sufficient examples from the past and essays of eminent writers he had put forward his ideas. He has succeeded in passing his ideas to his readers. He has taken the extra care in maintaining the structure of the book. It is well structured that even a non-professional reader can catch what he says. Conclusion This book, we can say, was written on the specific aim of making known the unknown facts about the revolutionary period. Evidently the author has succeeded in putting his idea within the structure. Many may find it different from the other existing volumes on the American revolutions, and that uniqueness makes this book the masterpiece of Nash. The book, for sure would be of a great help to the students as well as to the teachers in understanding the real facts about the slavery and the revolutions related to this. Information that is true, with supporting statements is explained in the book, which will be of a great assistance to the people who study on the history. Though the book does not contain any footnotes, the author had taken extra care in putting all the information in endnotes. The author has carefully put at the end a well described bibliography as well as the ‘Reading Further’ page. These help the reader not only understanding the book well enough but also lend a hand in finding similar books or books containing ideas that are similar to the author’s. Totally this book would be a great help to all categories of people. . Read More