Kirjahaku

Early American Quakers have long been perceived as retiring separatists, but in Holy Nation Sarah Crabtree transforms our historical understanding of the sect by drawing on the sermons, diaries, and correspondence of Quakers themselves. Situating Quakerism within the larger intellectual and religious undercurrents of the Atlantic World, Crabtree shows how Quakers forged a paradoxical sense of their place in the world as militant warriors fighting for peace. She argues that during the turbulent Age of Revolution and Reaction, the Religious Society of Friends forged a "holy nation," a transnational community of like-minded believers committed first and foremost to divine law and to one another. Declaring themselves citizens of their own nation served to underscore the decidedly unholy nature of the nation-state, worldly governments, and profane laws. As a result, campaigns of persecution against the Friends escalated as those in power moved to declare Quakers aliens and traitors to their home countries. Holy Nation convincingly shows that ideals and actions were inseparable for the Society of Friends, yielding an account of Quakerism that is simultaneously a history of the faith and its adherents and a history of its confrontations with the wider world. Ultimately, Crabtree argues, the conflicts experienced between obligations of church and state that Quakers faced can illuminate similar contemporary struggles.

Accused of treason four times by three governments, William Rotch led a harrowing life. A Quaker merchant in the Age of Revolution, he refused to fight for either independence or empire. To governments and neighbors, his pacifism looked like treachery. As he fled from Nantucket to France to Britain and back again, Rotch suffered looting, confiscation, inquisitions, and the threat of imprisonment and execution for his principled refusal to fight. Yet Rotch was also a beneficiary of these turbulent years. Drawing on fresh archival research, Sarah Crabtree reveals how Rotch turned revolutionary upheaval to his advantage. He used his whaling ships to dodge national borders, claim multiple residences, and play rival governments against one another, building a vast fortune even as he faced trials for these disloyalties. Beginning with the Boston Tea Party—when his family’s ships carried the infamous cargo—Rotch’s story illuminates the contested ideals of freedom, capitalism, and conscience in the Revolutionary Atlantic world. Quaker, Whaler, Traitor, Spy! uses the comic form to tell this remarkable story from all angles, showing how different sources paint Rotch’s character in different lights. Through striking visuals and careful storytelling, this graphic history invites readers to question how history gets made and how we ought to reconcile seemingly contradictory accounts. Both engaging narrative and scholarly case study, this book is not only ideal for methods courses and classes in US history but also an accessible and compelling read for general audiences.

Accused of treason four times by three governments, William Rotch led a harrowing life. A Quaker merchant in the Age of Revolution, he refused to fight for either independence or empire. To governments and neighbors, his pacifism looked like treachery. As he fled from Nantucket to France to Britain and back again, Rotch suffered looting, confiscation, inquisitions, and the threat of imprisonment and execution for his principled refusal to fight. Yet Rotch was also a beneficiary of these turbulent years. Drawing on fresh archival research, Sarah Crabtree reveals how Rotch turned revolutionary upheaval to his advantage. He used his whaling ships to dodge national borders, claim multiple residences, and play rival governments against one another, building a vast fortune even as he faced trials for these disloyalties. Beginning with the Boston Tea Party—when his family’s ships carried the infamous cargo—Rotch’s story illuminates the contested ideals of freedom, capitalism, and conscience in the Revolutionary Atlantic world. Quaker, Whaler, Traitor, Spy! uses the comic form to tell this remarkable story from all angles, showing how different sources paint Rotch’s character in different lights. Through striking visuals and careful storytelling, this graphic history invites readers to question how history gets made and how we ought to reconcile seemingly contradictory accounts. Both engaging narrative and scholarly case study, this book is not only ideal for methods courses and classes in US history but also an accessible and compelling read for general audiences.

Sarah Crabtree has been writing on and off for over twenty years with varying success. She had a novel longlisted in a fantasy competition a number of years ago. Real life got in the way of any literary dreams, but recently she seems to have got her writing mojo back. Q: What is the first book you remember reading, or being read to as a child?A: I remember an aunt passing on a copy of Grimm's fairy tales and I was petrified yet fascinated also. I wrote a picture book story for my children entitled The Other Yellow Dinosaur, which I have just published. Q: Do you have a favourite quote?A: My grandmother used to say that if at first you don't succeed then try, try again. Q: Is there a book that you keep going back to and how many times have you read it?A: You mean apart from the dictionary? I love Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. I must have read it three times over the past twenty years, and yet I still discover something new in it. Q: Who is your person of inspiration?A: Many people have inspired me. However, it was my grandmother who passed on a love for reading, and I think consequently my desire to write.