
The Many-Headed Hydra
Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic
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Narrated by:
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Cornell Womack
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By:
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Peter Linebaugh
About this listen
Winner of the International Labor History Award
Long before the American Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man, a motley crew of sailors, slaves, pirates, laborers, market women, and indentured servants had ideas about freedom and equality that would forever change history. The Many Headed-Hydra recounts their stories in a sweeping history of the role of the dispossessed in the making of the modern world.
When an unprecedented expansion of trade and colonization in the early 17th century launched the first global economy, a vast, diverse, and landless workforce was born. These workers crossed national, ethnic, and racial boundaries, as they circulated around the Atlantic world on trade ships and slave ships, from England to Virginia, from Africa to Barbados, and from the Americas back to Europe.
Marshaling an impressive range of original research from archives in the Americas and Europe, the authors show how ordinary working people led dozens of rebellions on both sides of the North Atlantic. The rulers of the day called the multiethnic rebels a "hydra" and brutally suppressed their risings, yet some of their ideas fueled the age of revolution. Others, hidden from history and recovered here, have much to teach us about our common humanity.
©2013 Peter Linebaugh (P)2022 Beacon PressListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"For most readers the tale told here will be completely new. For those already well acquainted with the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the image of that age which they have been so carefully taught and cultivated will be profoundly challenged." (David Montgomery, author of Citizen Worker)
"A landmark in the development of an Atlantic perspective on early American history. Ranging from Europe to Africa to the Caribbean and North America, it makes us think in new ways about the role of working people in the making of the modern world." (Eric Foner, author of The Story of American Freedom)
"What would the world look like had the levelers, the diggers, the ranters, the slaves, the castaways, the Maroons, the Gypsies, the Indians, the Amazons, the Anabaptists, the pirates...won? Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker show us what could have been by exhuming the revolutionary dreams and rebellious actions of the first modern proletariat, whose stories - until now - were lost at sea. They have recovered a sunken treasure chest of history and historical possibility and spun these lost gems into a swashbuckling narrative full of labor, love, imagination, and startling beauty." (Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's Disfunktional!)
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The Loom of Time
- Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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The Greater Middle East—the vast region between the Mediterranean and China, encompassing much of the Arab world, parts of northern Africa, and Asia—existed for millennia as the crossroads of empire. But with the dissolution of empires in the twentieth century, postcolonial states have endeavored to maintain stability. Robert D. Kaplan explores Greater Middle East through reporting and travel writing to reveal deeper truths about the impacts of history on the present and how the requirements of stability over anarchy are often in conflict with the ideals of democratic governance.
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detailed primer on the greater 'Middle East'
- By Stevon on 02-01-24
By: Robert D. Kaplan
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Avengers of the New World
- The Story of the Haitian Revolution
- By: Laurent DuBois
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The first and only successful slave revolution in the Americas began in 1791 when thousands of brutally exploited slaves rose up against their masters on Saint-Domingue, the most profitable colony in the 18th-century Atlantic world. Within a few years, the slave insurgents forced the French administrators of the colony to emancipate them, a decision ratified by revolutionary Paris in 1794. This victory was a stunning challenge to the order of master/slave relations throughout the Americas, including the Southern United States.
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Truly comprehensive historical account
- By Chidi on 03-12-24
By: Laurent DuBois
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God
- A Human History
- By: Reza Aslan
- Narrated by: Reza Aslan
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as one long and remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, "Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless if we are believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves."
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His best work yet
- By Jeff M on 11-15-17
By: Reza Aslan
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Revolutionary Suicide
- By: Huey P. Newton, Fredrika Newton - introduction
- Narrated by: C.T. Hayes, Fredrika Newton
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Tracing the birth of a revolutionary, Huey P. Newton's famous and oft-quoted autobiography is as much a manifesto as a portrait of the inner circle of America's Black Panther Party. From Newton's impoverished childhood on the streets of Oakland to his adolescence and struggles with the system, from his role in the Black Panthers to his solitary confinement in the Alameda County Jail, Revolutionary Suicide is unrepentant and thought-provoking in its portrayal of inspired radicalism.
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Excellent read!
- By Orlando S. on 04-22-25
By: Huey P. Newton, and others
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Enemy of All Mankind
- A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt
- By: Steven Johnson
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Henry Every was the 17th century’s most notorious pirate. The press published wildly popular - and wildly inaccurate - reports of his nefarious adventures. The British government offered enormous bounties for his capture, alive or (preferably) dead. But Steven Johnson argues that Every’s most lasting legacy was his inadvertent triggering of a major shift in the global economy. Enemy of All Mankind focuses on one key event - the attack on an Indian treasure ship by Every and his crew - and its surprising repercussions across time and space.
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Slow
- By Gary V Howell on 06-07-20
By: Steven Johnson
What listeners say about The Many-Headed Hydra
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cliff Romer
- 06-06-22
Great History, Great Narrator
Absolutely adored this history of the Atlantic proletariat. I'll definitely be looking into more of the authors' books.
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- Rollo Tomassi
- 12-16-22
extraordinary history I will be listening to over
An outstanding history of proletarian revolutionaries, agitators and "sons and daughters of Liberty" among the hewers of wood and drawers of water, performed flawlessly. One of the best audible downloads I've purchased. if we are meant to "own nothing and be happy" be sure to download this to your hard drive.
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- shep murray
- 01-07-25
Historical perspective
A fascinating look at the history of haves and have nots. The Hydra versus hewers of wood and carriers of water.
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- Heather Mack
- 09-08-23
Paradigm-shifting
Fans of David Graeber will love this. A testament to the human impulse toward freedom. Naming an undeniable through line across the history of resistance and solidarity..
I found this book grounding and heartening. Popular culture has vilified the symbol of hydra, teaching us to fear it, and to believe that centralized power is the only source of safety.
This book holds up a mirror: oppressors are the ones who fear the hydra. The good news is the hydra is *us*.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Reue
- 01-08-24
the book forgets it's audience
the book forgets its audience and spends as much time beating the reader with the cudgel of "capitalism is bad" as it does explaining the early workers history. The reader is already there because they likely share the authors view, they are also likely interested in the history, however the author chose to repeatedly beat their views in to the history rather than simply share the history.
I am also pretty sure that the narrator is an AI voice as the cadence, and speed of the narrator is inconsistent and seems to place pauses where commas dont exist in the written text.
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11 people found this helpful
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- daniel evrard
- 05-18-22
Great book, terrible performance
The content of this book is great, but the reading is the worst I’ve encountered on audible. It often sounds like listening to a bad text-to-speech and can hardly tell where one sentence ends and the next begins. Waste of a credit.
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4 people found this helpful