Marcus Rediker
@marcusrediker.bsky.social
Historian (from below), award-winning author, filmmaker, playwright, Distinguished Professor, University of Pittsburgh
marcusrediker.com
marcusrediker.com
We will hold the launch of our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin* (PM Press), this evening, Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 6:00 pm at the Abington Quaker Meeting House, where Benjamin Lay worshipped and where he is buried. See the flyer below for more info. Please join us!
November 11, 2025 at 1:24 PM
We will hold the launch of our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin* (PM Press), this evening, Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 6:00 pm at the Abington Quaker Meeting House, where Benjamin Lay worshipped and where he is buried. See the flyer below for more info. Please join us!
Ron Schatz wrote an excellent piece about the exhibition "Labor and Art," made from art in the collection of dear friends, Joe and Delsa White. In the Bost Building, 623 East 8th Ave., Homestead, PA, until Dec. 23, MWF 10 am - 12 noon and by appointment. Check it out!
lawcha.org/2025/11/04/l...
lawcha.org/2025/11/04/l...
“Labor & Art” in Homestead, Pennsylvania | LAWCHA
I am a historian who studied with David Montgomery at the University of Pittsburgh in the mid-1970s, a tumultuous time in labor and working-class history.
lawcha.org
November 7, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Ron Schatz wrote an excellent piece about the exhibition "Labor and Art," made from art in the collection of dear friends, Joe and Delsa White. In the Bost Building, 623 East 8th Ave., Homestead, PA, until Dec. 23, MWF 10 am - 12 noon and by appointment. Check it out!
lawcha.org/2025/11/04/l...
lawcha.org/2025/11/04/l...
Artist Leah Gordon’s exhibition, “Monument to the Vanquished Peasant,” is now up and running at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry through Jan. 26, 2026. Leah designed a special wallpaper for the show, featuring the many-headed hydra. I love it!
www.theherbert.org/news/333/a-n...
www.theherbert.org/news/333/a-n...
November 4, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Artist Leah Gordon’s exhibition, “Monument to the Vanquished Peasant,” is now up and running at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry through Jan. 26, 2026. Leah designed a special wallpaper for the show, featuring the many-headed hydra. I love it!
www.theherbert.org/news/333/a-n...
www.theherbert.org/news/333/a-n...
In Bologna tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 6:30 pm I will be in conversation with my dear friend Matilde Cazzola about “history from below” at the Libreria modo infoshop, via Mascarella, 24/b. Join us!
www.facebook.com/events/79022...
www.facebook.com/events/79022...
Un altro modo di fare la storia, un dialogo con Marcus Rediker
Event in Bologna by Libreria modo infoshop on Tuesday, November 4 2025 with 122 people interested.
www.facebook.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:09 AM
In Bologna tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 6:30 pm I will be in conversation with my dear friend Matilde Cazzola about “history from below” at the Libreria modo infoshop, via Mascarella, 24/b. Join us!
www.facebook.com/events/79022...
www.facebook.com/events/79022...
Last week I saw another painting by Caravaggio in person: “Supper at Emmaus” (1606), at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. For his technical mastery, innovative methods, and psychological/emotional depth, I regard him as the world’s greatest painter. I wish I could write history the way he paints.
November 2, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Last week I saw another painting by Caravaggio in person: “Supper at Emmaus” (1606), at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. For his technical mastery, innovative methods, and psychological/emotional depth, I regard him as the world’s greatest painter. I wish I could write history the way he paints.
Next Thursday, October 30, in Milan, at 6:30 pm, I will speak, at the invitation of my friend and editor Raf Scelsi, on the theme “Piracy and the Maritime Origins of the Working Class.” Join us at the Shake Bookshop, Via Ingegnoli 13.
October 23, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Next Thursday, October 30, in Milan, at 6:30 pm, I will speak, at the invitation of my friend and editor Raf Scelsi, on the theme “Piracy and the Maritime Origins of the Working Class.” Join us at the Shake Bookshop, Via Ingegnoli 13.
Next week in Milan, Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 7:00 pm, I will meet with the excellent historian Carlo Greppi and members of the research group "Laboratorio Lapsus” to discuss “history from below.” The event is organized by my publisher, elèuthera editrice.
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Register here: shorturl.at/kjq2A and join us!
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Register here: shorturl.at/kjq2A and join us!
La storia dal basso: origini, metodi e sviluppi
La storia dal basso: origini, metodi e sviluppi di un originale sguardo sulla ricerca storica
shorturl.at
October 22, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Next week in Milan, Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 7:00 pm, I will meet with the excellent historian Carlo Greppi and members of the research group "Laboratorio Lapsus” to discuss “history from below.” The event is organized by my publisher, elèuthera editrice.
,
Register here: shorturl.at/kjq2A and join us!
,
Register here: shorturl.at/kjq2A and join us!
The smile on my face as I lectured at the University of St. Thomas two weeks ago says it all. I had a great time on my visit, thanks to Kanishka Chowdhury, his colleagues, and his students.
October 20, 2025 at 11:30 AM
The smile on my face as I lectured at the University of St. Thomas two weeks ago says it all. I had a great time on my visit, thanks to Kanishka Chowdhury, his colleagues, and his students.
We offer through @pmpress.bsky.social a special discount on our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin: The Quaker Dwarf who Fought Slavery*, co-written with Michelle Markel and illustrated by Sarah Bachman. Use OCTOBER at checkout for a 20% discount.
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
October 19, 2025 at 11:42 AM
We offer through @pmpress.bsky.social a special discount on our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin: The Quaker Dwarf who Fought Slavery*, co-written with Michelle Markel and illustrated by Sarah Bachman. Use OCTOBER at checkout for a 20% discount.
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
Also from my collection, the great Haitian artist, Frantz Zéphirin's painting entitled *The Spirit of the Indian Facing Colonization*, depicting the Spanish ship, *Conquistador*; the mask of red death killing an indigenous woman; and the face of the African who will replace her.
October 18, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Also from my collection, the great Haitian artist, Frantz Zéphirin's painting entitled *The Spirit of the Indian Facing Colonization*, depicting the Spanish ship, *Conquistador*; the mask of red death killing an indigenous woman; and the face of the African who will replace her.
As many of you know, I collect Haitian art. The most famous painting in my collection is Frantz Zephirin’s *The Slave Ship Brooks*, which has been exhibited around the world, including the 2022 Venice Biennale. Here are photos of the painting and of Frantz when he had just completed it.
October 17, 2025 at 11:13 AM
As many of you know, I collect Haitian art. The most famous painting in my collection is Frantz Zephirin’s *The Slave Ship Brooks*, which has been exhibited around the world, including the 2022 Venice Biennale. Here are photos of the painting and of Frantz when he had just completed it.
Here is a review I wrote for the *New York Times*.
A Horrific Tale of the Slave Trade, Destined to Become a Classic www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...
A Horrific Tale of the Slave Trade, Destined to Become a Classic www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...
A Horrific Tale of the Slave Trade, Destined to Become a Classic
www.nytimes.com
October 16, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Here is a review I wrote for the *New York Times*.
A Horrific Tale of the Slave Trade, Destined to Become a Classic www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...
A Horrific Tale of the Slave Trade, Destined to Become a Classic www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...
Here is a lovely blog post by @leehall.bsky.social, for our book launch of *Fearless Benjamin*, Tues., Nov 11. I love the title: "It’s Never Too Late to Have a Truth-Filled Childhood.” Please mark your calendars, spread the word, and join us for the event!
www.radnorquakers.net/its-never-to...
www.radnorquakers.net/its-never-to...
October 15, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Here is a lovely blog post by @leehall.bsky.social, for our book launch of *Fearless Benjamin*, Tues., Nov 11. I love the title: "It’s Never Too Late to Have a Truth-Filled Childhood.” Please mark your calendars, spread the word, and join us for the event!
www.radnorquakers.net/its-never-to...
www.radnorquakers.net/its-never-to...
Reposted by Marcus Rediker
FHA is very pleased to announce that registration is now open for our annual fall event!
Please join us online Sunday, 16 November for a book talk given by Professor Marcus Rediker featuring his new work, Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea @marcusrediker.bsky.social
Please join us online Sunday, 16 November for a book talk given by Professor Marcus Rediker featuring his new work, Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea @marcusrediker.bsky.social
October 14, 2025 at 2:00 PM
FHA is very pleased to announce that registration is now open for our annual fall event!
Please join us online Sunday, 16 November for a book talk given by Professor Marcus Rediker featuring his new work, Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea @marcusrediker.bsky.social
Please join us online Sunday, 16 November for a book talk given by Professor Marcus Rediker featuring his new work, Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea @marcusrediker.bsky.social
It’s publication day! Our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin: The Quaker Dwarf who Fought Slavery*, co-written with Michelle Markel and illustrated by Sarah Bachman, is out today with @pmpress.bsky.social. Use BEN! at checkout for a 20% discount. Help spread the word!
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
October 14, 2025 at 11:01 AM
It’s publication day! Our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin: The Quaker Dwarf who Fought Slavery*, co-written with Michelle Markel and illustrated by Sarah Bachman, is out today with @pmpress.bsky.social. Use BEN! at checkout for a 20% discount. Help spread the word!
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
pmpress.org/index.php?l=...
Reposted by Marcus Rediker
I loved listening to this interview @marcusrediker.bsky.social did on @kpfa.org about his new book *Freedom Ship*! Rediker tells the inspiring history of enslaved Black people in the U.S. deep South who escaped by ship with the help of free Black communities and abolitionist white sailors.
Escaping Over Water | KPFA
In the decades leading up to the Civil War, enslaved people who traveled to freedom on foot did so mainly from Southern states that bordered free states. But those in the deep South didn’t have that o...
kpfa.org
October 9, 2025 at 12:07 PM
I loved listening to this interview @marcusrediker.bsky.social did on @kpfa.org about his new book *Freedom Ship*! Rediker tells the inspiring history of enslaved Black people in the U.S. deep South who escaped by ship with the help of free Black communities and abolitionist white sailors.
It was my great pleasure last night to speak, along with James Robinson, organizer Peter Rachleff, Walter Greason, and Ben Mchie at the East Side Freedom Library, an inspiring community center and liberated zone in St. Paul, MN! Thanks to Ry Siggelkow for the photo.
October 7, 2025 at 1:36 PM
It was my great pleasure last night to speak, along with James Robinson, organizer Peter Rachleff, Walter Greason, and Ben Mchie at the East Side Freedom Library, an inspiring community center and liberated zone in St. Paul, MN! Thanks to Ry Siggelkow for the photo.
Excited to announce, two new translations of *The Many-Headed Hydra* appear this month: in Catalán, translated by Marta Cazorla Rodríguez, Manifest Books, Barcelona, and in Polish, translated by Andrzej Wojtasik, by Praktyka Teoretyczna, Warsaw. Thanks to all who gave new life to a 25-year old book!
October 6, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Excited to announce, two new translations of *The Many-Headed Hydra* appear this month: in Catalán, translated by Marta Cazorla Rodríguez, Manifest Books, Barcelona, and in Polish, translated by Andrzej Wojtasik, by Praktyka Teoretyczna, Warsaw. Thanks to all who gave new life to a 25-year old book!
The talk I gave yesterday in the #slaveryarchive Book Club series, about my new work *Freedom Ship*, is now available on Youtube. Thanks to @araujohistorian.bsky.social and @elotroalex.bsky.social for the invitation and for organizing the event.
www.youtube.com/live/H17ToyM...
www.youtube.com/live/H17ToyM...
#Slaveryarchive Book Club with Marcus Rediker (University of Pittsburg)
YouTube video by #Slaveryarchive Book Club
www.youtube.com
October 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
The talk I gave yesterday in the #slaveryarchive Book Club series, about my new work *Freedom Ship*, is now available on Youtube. Thanks to @araujohistorian.bsky.social and @elotroalex.bsky.social for the invitation and for organizing the event.
www.youtube.com/live/H17ToyM...
www.youtube.com/live/H17ToyM...
Monday, Oct. 6, 7:00 pm, I will take part in a discussion at the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul, MN of the question “Why is it Important to Know the History of Resistance to Slavery?” Thanks to my friend Peter Rachleff for the invitation. Join us!
eastsidefreedomlibrary.org/event/book-d...
eastsidefreedomlibrary.org/event/book-d...
Book Discussion with pre-eminent scholar Marcus Rediker: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE RESISTANCE TO SLAVERY? - East Side Freedom Library
East Side Freedom Library Monday, October 6, 2025, 7pm Join historian Marcus Rediker, author of the new book, FREEDOM SHIP: THE UNCHARTED HISTORY OF ESCAPING SLAVERY BY SEA, for a conversation about t...
eastsidefreedomlibrary.org
October 4, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Monday, Oct. 6, 7:00 pm, I will take part in a discussion at the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul, MN of the question “Why is it Important to Know the History of Resistance to Slavery?” Thanks to my friend Peter Rachleff for the invitation. Join us!
eastsidefreedomlibrary.org/event/book-d...
eastsidefreedomlibrary.org/event/book-d...
Here is a review of my new book *Freedom Ship* by Eric Foner, published yesterday in *The New York Review of Books* (@nybooks.com).
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Underground Railroad’s Stealth Sailors | Eric Foner
The web of Atlantic trading routes and solidarity among maritime workers, many of them Black, meant fugitive slaves’ chances of reaching freedom below deck were better than over land.
www.nybooks.com
October 3, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Here is a review of my new book *Freedom Ship* by Eric Foner, published yesterday in *The New York Review of Books* (@nybooks.com).
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Happy to announce, we will launch our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin* Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 6:00 pm at the Abington Quaker Meeting House, where Benjamin Lay worshipped and where he is buried. See the flyer below for more info. Mark your calendars, join us, & spread the word! @pmpress.bsky.social
October 2, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Happy to announce, we will launch our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin* Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 6:00 pm at the Abington Quaker Meeting House, where Benjamin Lay worshipped and where he is buried. See the flyer below for more info. Mark your calendars, join us, & spread the word! @pmpress.bsky.social
Sat., Oct. 4, at 2:00 pm EDT it will be my pleasure to speak about my new book *Freedom Ship* with the #slaveryarchive Book Club. Please register through the link below and join us! Warm thanks to @araujohistorian.bsky.social and Alex Gil for organizing the event.
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
October 1, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Sat., Oct. 4, at 2:00 pm EDT it will be my pleasure to speak about my new book *Freedom Ship* with the #slaveryarchive Book Club. Please register through the link below and join us! Warm thanks to @araujohistorian.bsky.social and Alex Gil for organizing the event.
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Next Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 6:30 pm I will speak about my new book *Freedom Ship* in McNeely Hall, Room 100, at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. Thanks to Kanishka Chowdhury for organizing the event. Join us!
uofstthomasmn.my.salesforce-sites.com/summit__Summ...
uofstthomasmn.my.salesforce-sites.com/summit__Summ...
September 30, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Next Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 6:30 pm I will speak about my new book *Freedom Ship* in McNeely Hall, Room 100, at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. Thanks to Kanishka Chowdhury for organizing the event. Join us!
uofstthomasmn.my.salesforce-sites.com/summit__Summ...
uofstthomasmn.my.salesforce-sites.com/summit__Summ...
My blurb: "Manuel Barcia brilliantly shows how the concept ‘pirate’ … served the vast and violent purposes of empire. He also demonstrates that the theme of piracy broadly conceived now attracts the best scholars exploring the biggest issues in global history.”
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
September 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM
My blurb: "Manuel Barcia brilliantly shows how the concept ‘pirate’ … served the vast and violent purposes of empire. He also demonstrates that the theme of piracy broadly conceived now attracts the best scholars exploring the biggest issues in global history.”
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...