1789: Twelve Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change is a thought-provoking anthology that delves into a pivotal year in history, expertly curated by editors Marc Aronson and Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Following their acclaimed work on 1968, this collection brings together the insights of ten renowned young-adult nonfiction authors, each contributing unique perspectives on a time when the very notion of rights was fiercely debated.

The essays in this book provide an accessible look at significant events and figures from 1789, making it an excellent resource for young readers and anyone interested in understanding the complexities of this transformative period. The topics range from the drafting of the U.S. Bill of Rights to the burgeoning revolution in France, as well as the struggles for equality faced by enslaved people and women. Each essay brings to life the passionate debates and tumultuous events that shaped the course of history.

What stands out in 1789 is the diverse range of voices and perspectives presented. While well-known figures like Thomas Jefferson and Marie Antoinette are included, the anthology also highlights less familiar but equally important individuals, such as Olaudah Equiano and Mary Jemison. This inclusion enriches the narrative and encourages readers to consider the broader implications of rights and freedoms beyond the traditional historical lens.

The writing is engaging and informative, making complex historical themes accessible to a younger audience. Each author invites readers to reflect on the past while drawing connections to contemporary issues, making the book not just a historical exploration but a call to consider what rights and freedoms mean today.

Overall, 1789: Twelve Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change is a remarkable anthology that successfully balances educational content with engaging storytelling. It’s a must-read for young history enthusiasts and a valuable addition to any classroom or personal library.

An interesting compilation of essays that give a new look into some important historical events. A short and easy read for those interested in learning more.

Super interesting! A lot of really good stories that aren’t dry and hard to read. This might be one I read again.

A nice resource about a pivotal year in history. Some of the sections were better than others, but it would be good in a wide range of classroom libraries

The year 1789 is a landmark year around the world including the start of the French Revolution. In the US, George Washington was elected the first President of the United States in February. The first Congress met in March to declare the Constitution in placed in effect and the beginning of the United States.

Read the recently published middle grades book, then learn more at the website:

1789: TWELVE AUTHORS EXPLORE A YEAR OF REBELLION, REVOLUTION, AND CHANGE by Marc Aronson and Susan Campbell Bartoletti is an anthology featuring a dozen narratives written by award-winning nonfiction authors. While some focus on rights and freedoms in the US, others explore issues of enslavement, change, and struggles from around the world.

Wikipedia’s timeline pages provide a useful starting point for exploring key years both in the United States and around the world.

Visit the global 1789 website at https://bit.ly/3bvJPop
Visit the US 1789 website at https://bit.ly/334lwdk

ARC courtesy of Candlewick.

First of all--holy cow, what a great idea for a book. I wish history books for schools would be written as a series of books like this: tales of diverse people, all around the world, in all different situations, showing how all those different people, situations, and moments fit together on the world stage. As someone who learned history one country at a time and felt lost for years trying to figure out which things happened at the same time, I'm all on board with the concept of this book.

Second, all of the individual essays were well-written and intriguing, and a few were spectacular. The final essay on the H. M. S. Bounty, by Steve Sheinkin, was one of my favorite things I'd ever read. The essay "The Choice," by Marc Aronson, regarding Thomas Jefferson's Black mistress, was thought-provoking and assumption-busting. Overall, I appreciated the window into the worlds of so many different people, in so many different places.

Sadly, a few of the essays really, really bothered me. The very first essay in the book, "The Fishwives Make the Rules," was particularly troubling. It glorified mob violence and revolution, as if any violence is justified as long as you're on the right side of history. Perhaps unfortunately, I read this essay two days after the Capitol building in Washington was stormed. So perhaps you can understand why the following line left me a bit nauseated:

"Threatening to fire on the royal guards, they crowded into the National Assembly, causing mayhem and demanding to be heard. No longer willing to wonder whether their assembly members were representing them properly, they took over the hall... One even slumped presumptuously in the president's chair."

To be clear, this behavior was not presented in a way that just gives the facts and lets you decide what you think. It was completely glorified. The author continues later, "...but the women had done it... taking charge of their own fate."

I teach my children that violence is not justified 99% of the time. I teach them to question the behavior of anyone who glorifies it. (Yes, I'm one of those people who think some of our founding fathers were guilty of terrorism.) However much France may have needed a revolution, I refuse to glorify the one they had, the way they had it.

Later in the book, another otherwise fascinating essay about Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun (one of my very favorite artists, by the way!), promulgated the usual lies about Marie Antoinette--presenting as accepted fact the propaganda that had been used to discredit her by her enemies. I understand that we'll never know the whole story here, but I wish the author had extended the same grace to Marie Antoinette that she did to Le Brun, another woman whose reputation was tarnished by rumors of infidelity; in the artist's case, the author was careful to present rumor as rumor intended to hurt, whereas she stated rumor as fact in the queen's case. It's an anti-woman technique that's probably been around since the world began: if you want to discredit a powerful woman, accuse her of promiscuity. Since research has shown that a great many of the accusations brought against Marie Antoinette were lies, I would have appreciated more nuance here.

So, that's my take-it-with-a-grain-of-salt review. I'm biased, I'll admit. (Aren't we all??) I recognize that my bias made it impossible to love this book, even while I appreciated some of the essays that challenged my bias in a constructive way.

America wasn't the only one feeling growing pains in 1789. Marc Aronson and Susan Campbell Bartoletti, who edited and contributed to 2018's 1968: Today’s Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change, have put together another stellar examination of a contentious year in global history with 1789: Twelve Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change. All-star authors, including Aronson and Bartoletti, Tanya Lee Stone, Steve Sheinkin, Joyce Hansen, and Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson, take on the big events and questions that rocked the world that year: what does "The Rights of Man" mean? White men? Nobles and kings? What about enslaved people and indigenous people? The Bill of Rights was ratified in the United States while France burned toward revolution; fishwives took to the streets and Marie Antoinette's portrait artist captured the human side of an untouchable royal. Sailors mutinied, slaves told their stories, and mathematicians calculated the digits of pi. Organized into sections entitled "Exhilaration", "Abomination", "Inspiration", and "Conclusions", essays cover the excitement of change and discovery, the horror of enslavement, and the journey toward progress. It's a truly holistic view of a pivotal year in history, and each essay broadens the reader's world as they connect the dots to come away with a full picture of how one event can, like a snowball rolling downhill, engulf all in its path.

Publisher Candlewick offers a sample chapter on their website as well as an educator's guide. Back matter includes comprehensive author notes, source notes, and a bibliography. 1789 has starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.

Mini Review: This was a very interesting look at the year 1789, which is one of my favorite time periods to read about! I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about this time, with a look at different parts of the world.

I am absolutely fascinated by the American Revolution and the years post and prior to it. Anything about the American Revolution I try to get my hands on. This book was no exception. I enjoyed it quite a lot and found it very fascinating. The cover work is just as beautiful as well. I would highly recommend for anyone who enjoys learning and reading about this time period. It was very informational and look forward to hearing what other people have to say about it!

This is excellent non-fiction about the tumultuous year 1789. It would be great as an addition to world history curriculum and I wish a teacher could do such a thing: focus on a year and the important events that happened around the world. All that being said, I can't really imagine reading it from cover to cover, as I would do outside of school.

I learned an awful lot about the thoughts, revolutions, and rebellions that happened in 1789. Some I knew, like the fishwives in France, but most (all?) of the other chapters were brand new facts for me. It is interesting to me that there are times in history when so much is happening, like an explosion all at once. Like the renaissance, the age of enlightenment was a time when a lot of like-minded individuals happened to exist at the same time (and sometimes, place).

My thanks to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm always on the lookout for non-fiction books that have a more global perspective to use in international schools. While there is a definite American bias in some of the selections where the author talks about "our country," and the focus does seem to be more on Europe than other parts of the world, this book still gets high marks for including non-American events and people that are not as well known. For example, I learned about Gustav III from Sweden, someone I'd never heard of who had a profound effect on the country Sweden is today. An excellent choice for middle and high school libraries.

i really enjoyed reading this book, the stories were a lot of fun and historical. They all flowed well together and it was a good read.

Overall, I highly recommend this book! Not all essays work for me but in general, they are very captivating and the topics discussed (mainly about freedom and equality) are still highly relevant in today’s age. I learned a lot from the people and values discussed on this book so if you’re interested to learn more about history, this is a book for you.

12 YA authors present nonfiction essays covering a year of huge changes, discoveries, and rebellions in Europe and N. America.

While fascinating, all of these interesting bits of history that I had no idea of, and providing a jumping off point for much more in depth research, this was tough to get into. It felt very inconsistent. All the authors had different styles and focuses. And there was very little to transition between essays.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Thankyou to Netgalley for providing me with this e-arc.
I've always preferred fiction over non fiction. I am a huge fan of Historical fiction but even then I prefer the content to be fictitious intertwined with facts, I can never read a pure nonfiction book.
This, however, was an exception. Because I absolutely loved this book. I liked how each story was from a different part of the world but the theme was the same i.e revolution, change and rebellion.
This book enlightened me as well as made me laugh at times. I enjoyed and learned which honestly is how hiatory textbooks should be like.
Each chapter was written by a different author, I was afraid the writing style won't be synchronised but to my satisfaction it was. Although each author had his/her own element and charisma but overall the chapters were in sync Thank God.
I would definitely recommend this anthology to anyone interested in history, or honestly just anyone because trust me it doesn't feel like you're studying for a history test. It's really enjoyable and really makes you learn and ponder over things. Makes you ponder over the freedom we take for granted, makes you wonder about the struggle some people had to go through in order to give us the freedom we enjoy right now. So definitely a must read!

This collection of essays offers a wide sample of people and ideals which shaped the events of 1789. The short chapters are easy to follow, and while personally I would've preferred more analysis and less opining, some of the people mentioned were completely new and striking. In particular, I walked away from the stories on King Gustav of Sweden and the portraitist Elisabeth Vigée le Brun wanting to learn more about them and wondering how I didn't learn about them in European History.

**Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the ARC**

A fascinating read with 12 completely different points of view on Rebellion, Revolution and Change. I found this anthology interesting and how they all tie together with common themes of revolution and reform. I highly
recommend this book to anyone interested in history.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you!

I’m a picky nonfiction reader. I’m also really interest in the enlightenment era, so I found 1789 fascinating.
Each chapter features a different individual’s story or event relating to the year, 1789. Although every chapter is written by a different author, their writing styles don’t differ as much as I thought they would. The language is digestible and interesting.
Most of my feedback is positive. There’s some really cool stuff in here. It’s fascinating how these events all link together with common themes of revolution and reform. I think my favorite chapter was on the Fishwives.
I’d encourage everyone to check this book out, but… this is a big but. I had an issue with the Sally Hemmings chapter: The Choice. This might be a personal bias, but I didn’t like how this story was presented. It was much more of a ‘did she love him or was she a slave?’ Rather than the obvious, she was groomed, gifted to a wealthy older widower who had recently been married to Sally’s deceased, white, half-sister. Why present her opportunity to stay in Paris as a choice?
This chapter states she was a teenager but presents Sally as being much older—she was only sixteen and pregnant. Probably scared witless and controlled by a powerful man. So what if Jefferson wasn’t a physically abusive owner? Words can cause just as much abuse as a whip. You cannot apply the word seduction to this sort of power dynamic. To ownership. I guess in this BLM/post-Me-too time I expected more out of this chapter. Aronson highlights the habit of fathering children with slaves as common, but I expected him to lay out the dynamics without playing so coy.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, but would happily add this to my nonfiction library.

Really fascinating read focusing on one year of change rippling across different parts of the world, varying types of people, and diverse disciplines. It was incredible for me to read and see how the world was changing so drastically in that year. To think we take for granted the ability to know what is happening in far reaches and corners of the world and know they are connected because of technology; however, this book brought together a compilation of related and seemingly unrelated events and portrayed them from a bird’s eye view.