David Lester's Blog

Revolution by Fire: New York's Afro-Irish Uprising of 1741, a Graphic Novel (Beacon Press) by Marcus Rediker, David Lester with Paul Buhle

Pub date: November 12, 2024
176 pages (Paperback )
ISBN: 978-0807012550

Based on the little known real life "Slave Insurrection" of 1741, this book imagines outlaw fugitive John Gwin and an eclectic crew of renegades as they attempt to disrupt and overthrow the colonial social order

Rebel fugitive John Gwin was previously introduced in Under the Banner of King Death and this graphic novel continues his adventures. Revolution by Fire is a hypothetical look at the inner workings of the so called “New York Conspiracy” or "Slave Rebellion" of 1741, following the figures who were considered the real-life masterminds of the plot.

Featuring an eclectic crew of African-American, Irish, and mixed race Hispanic sailors, soldiers, and renegades, Gwin and his band are determined to capture New York City in their own names and fight the higher class “wigs and ruffles” wearing white people. Unfortunately for the conspirators, suspicions about an uprising were already in the minds of the Governor and his fellow elites, and the events that followed change the course of everyone’s lives forever.

Based on the chapter titled “Outcasts of the Nations of the Earth” in Rediker’s and Peter Linebaugh’s The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic, the bookprovides a fly-on-the-wall view of a historical event reimagined, highlighting cooperation among races and classes that transcends the social order of its time—and inspire us today.

“Revolution by Fire is a riveting graphic narrative of the 1741 New York City slave conspiracy. The innovative graphic narrative brings into full view America’s slave past and how enslaved people courageously rebelled against their enslavers. Readers particularly interested in the multiracial dimensions of slave resistance will find this graphic narrative a real gem.” —Dr. Karlos K. Hill, author of The Murder of Emmett Till: A Graphic History

Pre-order in USA: https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Fir...

Beacon Press:
https://www.beacon.org/Revolution-by-...

Pre-order in Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Revolution-Fire...

Music by Sergey Cheremisinov courtesy of the Free Music Archive

Book trailer for UNDER THE BANNER OF KING DEATH: Pirates of the Atlantic, a graphic novel by David Lester and Marcus Rediker with Paul Buhle:
https://youtu.be/lu_V5utFHXE

Pub date: Feb 7, 2023, but available NOW for pre-orders: http://www.beacon.org/Under-the-Banne...

JUST RELEASED: My graphic novel "Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay" (Beacon Press), about an 18th-century dwarf and hunchback who fought a lonely, heroic fight for the immediate abolition of slavery. The book was edited by renowned historians Marcus Rediker and Paul Buhle.

Advance comments: "David Lester's raw, expressive visual approach perfectly delivers." -- Nate Powell, artist of the March trilogy

"Do you know the story of Benjamin Lay? Neither did I. These pages constitute the graphic apocrypha of the Prophet of Slavery himself, brought to light by David Lester's thorough research, spare language, and stunning artwork.” — Jason Lutes, author of Berlin

Here is a trailer for the book: https://youtu.be/5-yUkKKHGhM

In addition to making graphic novels, I'm also the guitarist in Mecca Normal. cheers, David Lester
PS: Further details here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

Twenty-five free copies of *Prophet against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, a Graphic Novel* are being given away by @BeaconBks through Goodreads. Register here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

An excerpt by Karen Jacobson about teaching my graphic novel THE LISTENER in her classroom:

One of the most powerful ways the students utilized the historical and visual nature of The Listener was in seeing the connection between events of the past and present.
One student prepared a multimedia presentation for the class that explored the many ways in which Lester used another visual technique, superimposition, in this book. An example is a series of images that portrays Louise in a tour of a concentration camp; ghostly outlines of the former inmates take up increasing amounts of the image as reflections on their experience increasingly possess her thoughts.

The presentation powerfully conveyed one of the ways in which a graphic novel is unique as a literary/art form; this student's insightful ideas were alluded to frequently by other students in subsequent class discussions as they pointed out additional examples of superimposition in the chapters they had studied.

-- "Challenging Stories: Canadian Literature for Social Justice in the Classroom" (Canadian Scholars' Press, 2017)
https://www.amazon.ca/Challenging-Sto...

Consider giving a graphic novel this holiday season! Check out my graphic novel THE LISTENER. Just sayin'.

https://www.buyolympia.com/q/Item=dav...

MECCA NORMAL TOUR starts Tuesday, Sept 23 in the Northeastern USA:
http://meccanormal.wordpress.com/

Thanks to everyone who is helping to publicize our upcoming shows and the new record! We really appreciate it. Being D-I-Y means we need our friends and fans to help us get the word out.

Read all about our new album: http://www.mladysrecords.com/

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Mecca Normal guitarist David Lester's poster of Malachi Ritscher (18 x 28″) is to be included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial (March 7 to May 25) in New York City. The exhibition also includes a recording from a live set performed by underground rock duo Mecca Normal, and both sides of Jean Smith's cover art of the Mecca Normal 7″ record that includes the song "Malachi" about war protester Malachi Ritscher. These artifacts are all part of Public Collectors: Malachi Ritscher – an exhibit curated by Chicago’s Marc Fischer about American activist and music documentarian Malachi Ritscher (1954 – 2006) who self-immolated on a freeway median outside of Chicago to protest the war in Iraq. Ritscher made a video of this action that was not widely seen.

http://blackdotmuseum.wordpress.com/2...