New World Notes - Renegades (First of two parts)

This week on New World Notes: radio program #377, May 26, 2015, from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. (and on Wednesday from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m.), host Kenneth Dowst presents the first of a 2-part broadcast of a fine talk by historian Thaddeus Russell.

Russell is the author of an extremely interesting book, A Renegade History of the United States (Free Press, 2010).

This week, Part 1 focuses on work and leisure. The "free" time we enjoy today--weekends, vacations, etc--was not granted willingly by employers. Rather, it was taken without permission by "renegade" workers of decades past. These included slaves, drunken craftsmen, unmotivated factory hands, etc.

For instance, plantation slaves established the practice of "vacation"--much to the annoyance of their masters. (They'd agree to return in exchange for not being punished.)

Without the groundbreaking work by these renegades, we might still be working for 14-16 hours a day. (Maybe that should be "goldbricking" instead of "groundbreaking.")

These two installments were previously broadcast in April 2011.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "gunquot;) of WWUH-FM, a community service of the University of Hartford.

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Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want--and what they're trying to make us settle for.

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