A Renegade History of the United States

This provocative perspective on Americas history claims that the countrys personality was defined not by the ideals of the elites and intellectuals, but by those who throughout have lived on the fringes of society historyslaves, immigrants, gangsters, and others who challenged the conventions of their day. Raucous, profane, and thrillingly original, Thaddeus Russells A Renegade History of the United States turns the myths of the American character on their heads with a rare mix of wit, scholarship, and storytelling flair (Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad Is Good for You and The Invention of Air ). An all-new, stunning, and controversial story of the United States: It was not good citizens who established American liberty, declares Thaddeus Russell, but immoral and degraded people on the fringes of society whose subversive lifestyles legitimized the taboo and made America the land of the free. In vivid portraits of