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The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America's Newfound Sovereignty Audiobook
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(3.04) - 201 listener ratings
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A gripping and provocative tale of violence, alcohol, and taxes, The Whiskey Rebellion pits President George Washington and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton against angry, armed settlers across the Appalachians. Unearthing a pungent segment of early American history long ignored by historians, William Hogeland brings to startling life the rebellion that decisively contributed to the establishment of federal authority.
In 1791, at the frontier headwaters of the Ohio River, gangs with blackened faces began to attack federal officials, beating and torturing the collectors who plagued them with the first federal tax ever laid on an American product — whiskey. In only a few years, those attacks snowballed into an organized regional movement dedicated to resisting the fledgling government's power and threatening secession, even civil war.
With an unsparing look at both Hamilton and Washington — and at lesser-known, equally determined frontier leaders such as Herman Husband and Hugh Henry Brackenridge — journalist and popular historian William Hogeland offers an insightful, fast-paced account of the remarkable characters who perpetrated this forgotten revolution, and those who suppressed it. To Hamilton, the whiskey tax was key to industrial growth and could not be permitted to fail. To hard-bitten people in what was then the wild West, the tax paralyzed their economies while swelling the coffers of greedy creditors and industrialists. To President Washington, the settlers' resistance catalyzed the first-ever deployment of a huge federal army, led by the president himself, a military strike to suppress citizens who threatened American sovereignty.
Daring, finely crafted, by turns funny and darkly poignant, The Whiskey Rebellion promises a surprising trip for readers unfamiliar with this primal national drama — whose climax is not the issue of mere taxation but the very meaning and purpose of the American Revolution.
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"A nicely researched and well developed book. At times it gave a little too much backround and lost the overall sense of drama. But, throughout most of the book it did a good job of developing the problems that led to the rebellion and more effectively showed Hamilton's goals for supressing it."
— Daniel (4 out of 5 stars)
The Whiskey Rebellion Listener Reviews
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" Loved the narrative of this text, highly recommend it. "
— Shonda, 1/15/2014 -
" Tax whiskey to pay for the new country. The little guys have another idea. Washington avoids "civil war." His 60,000 acres increase in value. The Feds find another way to fund the new nation. "
— Pat, 1/4/2014 -
" good book, also see "The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution" by Thomas P. Slaughter "
— Tom, 12/6/2013 -
" The schemes with which politicans play with people's money has not changed in 200 years. This book describes the taxation of whiskey without perceived represenation. Western Pennsylvania was on the brink of civil war in the first uprising after the birth of our country. "
— Craig, 12/5/2013 -
" Of course I wish there was more about Western PA, but overall, I learned quite a bit, These isn't a lot written on this subject, though I there were times that some of the sentences describing the conditions surrounding the Whisky Rebellion could have been take verbatim from current news broadcasts. "
— Kaitron, 12/3/2013 -
" I learned a lot about history not anything super great or interesting but it is always good to know how things in your country came to be the way they are. "
— Kirsten, 8/16/2013 -
" Picked it up expecting (hoping for) a narrative tale of the whiskey rebellion; several dozen pages in I felt like I was reading a book on economics because the author spent so much time explaining how the country's financial system developed. I put it down. "
— Scott, 2/9/2012 -
" An in-depth look at what is usually covered in a line or a paragraph in history texts. At times, it is as slow-going as it was for the militias to reach to western edge of Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, this is a very interesting account. "
— Mightymite, 8/16/2011 -
" Accounting major. I found this book interesting mostly because of how the tax effected the environment. "
— carl, 8/22/2010 -
" I liked the story--some historical merit--I wonder how accurate. Still an enjoyable book. Fairly quick read. "
— Jan, 2/4/2010 -
" An in-depth look at what is usually covered in a line or a paragraph in history texts. At times, it is as slow-going as it was for the militias to reach to western edge of Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, this is a very interesting account. "
— Mightymite, 1/14/2010 -
" The schemes with which politicans play with people's money has not changed in 200 years. This book describes the taxation of whiskey without perceived represenation. Western Pennsylvania was on the brink of civil war in the first uprising after the birth of our country. "
— Craig, 1/2/2010 -
" good book, also see "The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution" by Thomas P. Slaughter "
— Tom, 5/29/2009 -
" Tax whiskey to pay for the new country. The little guys have another idea. Washington avoids "civil war." His 60,000 acres increase in value. The Feds find another way to fund the new nation. "
— Pat, 4/28/2009 -
" I listened to this the reader wasn't the best and I skipped a lot of the story but if you were a historical novel person you would love it. <br/> <br/>The history about money and the stock market was interesting -- no wonder we are where we are today. "
— Grace, 3/15/2009 -
" I liked the story--some historical merit--I wonder how accurate. Still an enjoyable book. Fairly quick read. "
— Jan, 1/21/2009 -
" I learned a lot about history not anything super great or interesting but it is always good to know how things in your country came to be the way they are. "
— Kirsten, 4/2/2008
About William Hogeland
William Hogeland has published in numerous print and online periodicals, including the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, and Slate. He lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.