Review: "Radical Duke" Examines an English Aristocrat's Role in the American Revolution
By
Adam Gopnik
Baker's choice. Dense with flavour, light on filler.
Summary
Adam Gopnik reviews Danielle Allen's book "Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat—and the American Revolution—Transformed Britain," which explores the role of Charles Lennox, the 3rd Duke of Richmond, in the American Revolution. The review examines the argument that a rowdy English nobleman significantly influenced revolutionary thought and the transformation of British politics. Gopnik discusses how Allen reframes the American Revolution as a transatlantic event shaped by British radicals, and explores the Duke's complex legacy as both an aristocrat and a reformer.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledAmericans want to Americanize the American Revolution.
Witty Jefferson, stolid Washington, disputatious Adams, Franklin simpering and laughing and making love—we want it to be a kind of farm-to-table act of ideological
How One Aristocrat—and the American Revolution—Transformed Britain
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