{"product_id":"empire-ablaze-the-american-revolution-and-the-atlantic-working-class-9781836741459","title":"Empire Ablaze: The American Revolution and the Atlantic Working Class","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn 1776, while Britain wages war on American rebels, one man sets out to bring the empire down from within\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs revolution raged in North America, James Aitken - house painter, highwayman, and escaped indentured servant - wandered the colonies formulating a dramatic plan to cripple the British navy by destroying Portsmouth dockyard and Bristol harbour. He was determined to burn down the empire to hasten American independence. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough this overlooked story of British insurrection and America's founding, historian Tom Cutterham explores how an emerging transatlantic working class experienced the transformation and crisis of Britain's eighteenth-century empire. Behind this new sense of class consciousness was the Enlightenment philosophy that had informed popular ideas about the universal rights and the corruption of imperial authorities. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eReframing the American Revolution as a British civil war, \u003ci\u003eEmpire Ablaze \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a fresh account of the United States' birth and the origins of radical politics in Britain, finding insights for the revolutionary struggles of our own crisis-ridden times.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Verso\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/21\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781836741459\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs","brand":"Tom Cutterham","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52571262419125,"sku":"9781836741459","price":21.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/empire-ablaze-the-american-revolution-and-the-atlantic-working-class-9781836741459","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}