World of Trouble: A Philadelphia Quaker Family's Journey through the American Revolution cover art

World of Trouble: A Philadelphia Quaker Family's Journey through the American Revolution

The Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History

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World of Trouble: A Philadelphia Quaker Family's Journey through the American Revolution

By: Richard Godbeer
Narrated by: Charles Henderson Norman
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Summary

An intimate account of the American Revolution as seen through the eyes of a Quaker pacifist couple living in Philadelphia.

Historian Richard Godbeer presents a richly layered and intimate account of the American Revolution as experienced by a Philadelphia Quaker couple, Elizabeth Drinker and the merchant Henry Drinker, who barely survived the unique perils that Quakers faced during that conflict. Spanning a half-century before, during, and after the war, this gripping narrative illuminates the Revolution’s darker side as patriots vilified, threatened, and in some cases killed pacifist Quakers as alleged enemies of the revolutionary cause. Amid chaos and danger, the Drinkers tried as best they could to keep their family and faith intact.

Through one couple’s story, Godbeer opens a window on a uniquely turbulent period of American history, uncovers the domestic, social, and religious lives of Quakers in the late eighteenth century, and situates their experience in the context of transatlantic culture and trade. A master storyteller takes his listeners on a moving journey they will never forget.

The book is published by Yale University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2019 Richard Godbeer (P)2020 Redwood Audiobooks 18th Century Americas Christianity Modern Revolution & Founding United States United Kingdom American History Quaker Religion
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Critic reviews

“Meticulously researched, beautifully written, and a true pleasure to read.” (Sarah Crabtree, San Francisco State University)

“Offering an intimate and beautifully textured account of the lives of religious and political dissenters during the American Revolution.” (Jane E. Calvert, University of Kentucky)
All stars
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The level of detail about the Drinker family of Philadelphia is impressing. In this book, one is given a unique insight into family life, trading, slavery, politics and religion at the time, and I can highly recommend the book. However, the American accent of the narrator is rather intense, and could preferably have been made more neutral for a wider audience.

Detailed as few other books

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I received a review copy of this book. It presents the revolutionary war from the perspective of an ordinary, albeit relatively wealthy, Quaker family, focusing on the events as they impacted their daily lives. It provides a fascinating perspective of a major historical period and the impact of those on the ground. The family themselves were relatively unusual for the period in that they were not involved in the fighting itself, being conscientious objectors, something which still impacted the family greatly.

The focus on the perspective of this family humanises the events, and by the end of the book you feel for the struggles the family have gone through.

History from an unusual perspective

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