Bruce Dearstyne: Revolutionary New York
Interviewed by Robert W. Snyder
Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change
Edited by Bruce Dearstyne
SUNY Press
January 2026, 308 pp.
Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change, edited by Bruce Dearstyne and published by SUNY Press, examines what the volume calls the “unfinished revolutions” of the Empire State. In sixteen essays by a varied cast of authors, the book explores efforts to achieve what the editor describes as the full promise of the revolution. Central to the book are ordinary New Yorkers who faced great challenges, such as the Oneida who tried to maintain sovereignty in the era of the American Revolution; the pathbreaking architect Louise Blanchard Bethune; and the anti-rent rebellions of the nineteenth century. Together, Dearstyne writes, they tell a story of “the two-and-a-half century struggle to realize the Revolution’s ideals and bring increased freedom and opportunities to marginalized populations.”
Dearstyne’s volume takes in all of New York State, but it gives strong recognition to New York City. Chapters on the Triangle Fire, Black New Yorkers in World War I, the fight for women’s suffrage, Prohibition, teacher unionization, the Stonewall Uprising, 9/11, and COVID-19 illuminate the dynamic place of New York in the Empire State’s politics and culture.
Dearstyne is the editor of this volume and the author of several books, including The Spirit of New York: Defining Events in the Empire State’s History and The Crucible of Public Policy: New York Courts in the Progressive Era.
Robert Snyder, interviewing for the New Books Network and the Gotham Center for New York City History, is professor emeritus of Journalism and American Studies at Rutgers University. He is the author of When the City Stopped: Stories from New York’s Essential Workers (Cornell, 2025), winner of the Fiorello LaGuardia Book Prize. Email: rwsnyder@rutgers.edu