Marcus Rediker
@marcusrediker.bsky.social
Historian (from below), award-winning author, filmmaker, playwright, Distinguished Professor, University of Pittsburgh
marcusrediker.com
Marcus Buford Rediker is an American historian, writer, professor, and social activist. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1976 and attended the University of Pennsylvania for graduate study, earning a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in history. He taught at Georgetown University from 1982 to 1994 and is currently a Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History of the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh. .. more
Political science
43%
Sociology
20%
Thank you.
The Crown's Silence
For readers of Annette Gordon-Reed and Nikole Hannah-Jones, the shocking untold story of the British royal family’s centuries-long investment in slavery and...
www.harpercollins.com
Publication day! "Brooke Newman has written a brave, brilliant, and essential book, telling truths that many will not want to hear. I hope [it inspires] investigations of other maritime monarchies as we reckon with the still-deadly legacies of human bondage."
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
A beautiful appreciation. Thank you.
All great books!
Thanks, John. Not sure yet, no scheduled date.
To be explored in my new book “History From Below: The Making of a Radical Tradition”: Natalie Zemon Davis took the work in new directions by writing deep and intricate cultural histories from below about women. She also brought the genre to film with *The Return of Martin Guerre*.
Very good to hear you speak about your distinshuished career, Martha. I knew writing and comp lit were in there somewhere!
Thank you, Marc.
Christopher Hill added a new dimension with his study of the radicals in the English Revolution, the Levellers, Diggers, Seekers, Ranters, and Quakers who wanted to “turn the world upside down.” Hill treated them as thinkers and wrote an intellectual history from below.
Happy to announce that my book *The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom* has been translated into Spanish and published by Traficantes de Sueños. This is the third of my books they have published, with *Freedom Ship* yet to come.
traficantes.net/libros/la-re...
traficantes.net/libros/la-re...
Thanks for letting me know, Marc. I have not yet seen the book!
While E.P. Thompson was pioneering the concept “agency,” CLR James was doing something similar, exploring the concept “working-class self-activity.” Thompson and James converged to create an idea central to history from below: workers make history. A theme to be explored in my new book.
Yesterday I wrote about a formative moment in “history from below”: November 1963, when E.P. Thompson published *The Making of the English Working Class*. Its preface became a manifesto for a new way of doing history. My book “History from Below: The Making of a Radical Tradition” is now under way.
Chandler and Natalie Davis were family friends and will loom large in he book.
I will certainly write weaknesses as well as strengths.
I’ve begun work on my new book project, now called “History from Below: The Making of a Radical Tradition.” Here is the preliminary working bookshelf on my desk. Notice how beaten up are my copies of the books by E.P. Thompson and Christopher Hill.
Bookishly Delightful’s Best Books of 2025
My favorite 2025-published books span many genres, including: literary fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, science fiction, romance, poetry, YA, & children’s books.
bookishlydelightful.substack.com
Bookishly Delightful kindly honors *Freedom Ship*: "I enjoyed rooting for their escape attempts to be successful. And I enjoyed rooting for the many compassionate people from all walks of life (sometimes very surprisingly so) who tried to help them."
bookishlydelightful.substack.com/i/150792663/...
bookishlydelightful.substack.com/i/150792663/...
Coming soon! The new documentary I’ve made with director Tony Buba and a great creative team: “Becoming Benjamin Lay” asks, who was this radical abolitionist and why was he so long forgotten? How did his dwarfism impact his politics? What does he have to say to us today?
A joy of having written about the radical abolitionist Benjamin Lay is to see how others are inspired by his story. Here is a song with lyrics by composer Lowell LaTerza Booth, “The Exhortation of Benjamin Lay.” She kindly gave me a copy when I met her at the Abington Quaker Meeting in November.
Me too, Franciska! Wishing you well.
Maybe the best photograph I have ever taken. Honolulu, 2019.
I lost my English bulldog Jellybean, a 90-lb. brute, almost ten years ago, but I never cease to miss him, and rarely more than today. Here he is helping me to write *The Fearless Benjamin Lay* -- the best writing arrangement ever!
I’ve finally decided that my next book will be “How to Write History from Below” – one part on the tradition of historical writing, one part memoir, one part how-to-do-it, and one part an intervention in the “history wars.” Thanks to all of you for your encouragement on this topic over the years.
Marcus Rediker
@marcusrediker.bsky.social
· Dec 31
Piraci kontra kapitalizm. „Wielogłowa hydra” to historia od dołu • Krytyka Polityczna
Statek piracki był na przełomie XVII i XVIII wieku czymś rodzaju „ruchomego sowietu”, pływającej rady robotniczej. Piraci pokazywali, że można zupełnie inaczej zorganizować statek dalekomorski, przeds...
krytykapolityczna.pl
Here is an interview Peter Linebaugh and I did with Jakub Majmurek and @krytykapolityczna.bsky.social (Warsaw), for the publication of the Polish edition of *The Many-Headed Hydra*. Thanks to Jakub and everyone at KP for the interview and the translation.
krytykapolityczna.pl/historia/pir...
krytykapolityczna.pl/historia/pir...
Marcus Rediker
@marcusrediker.bsky.social
· Dec 30
THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE | Official Teaser | Searchlight Pictures
YouTube video by SearchlightPictures
www.youtube.com
Having written about religious radicalism, I was keen to see the film *The Testament of Ann Lee*, about the charismatic leader & the Shaker movement in the 18c. The film bends the history a bit but it evokes the subject and the times powerfully. Highly recommended.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zK_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zK_...
Marcus Rediker
@marcusrediker.bsky.social
· Dec 28
😂😂
Marcus Rediker
@marcusrediker.bsky.social
· Dec 28
My review of Sven Beckert’s *Capitalism: A Global History* appears today on the front page of the New York Times Sunday Book Review. As you will see when you read the review, I highly recommend the book. Congratulations, Sven!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/b...