{"id":124153,"date":"2024-03-12T13:41:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T17:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=124153"},"modified":"2024-03-12T13:41:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T17:41:58","slug":"a-kind-of-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What economic issues did American elites face in the years leading up to the American Revolution, and how did the war allow them to address these problems? How did poor whites, slaves, and American Indians respond to the war?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Howard Zinn titled Chapter 5 of <em>A People\u2019s History of the United States<\/em> &#8220;A Kind of Revolution.&#8221; He characterizes America&#8217;s war for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/maturity-continuum-7-habits\/\">independence<\/a> as a conflict between British and American elites rather than an uprising of the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to get Zinn&#8217;s take on the American Revolutionary War and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/formation-of-the-united-states\/\">formation of the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-chapter-5-a-kind-of-revolution-by-howard-zinn\">Chapter 5: &#8220;A Kind of Revolution&#8221; by Howard Zinn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While the colonial class system successfully repressed lower-class revolt, it didn\u2019t stop elites from competing with one another. As such, Zinn argues in Chapter 5 (&#8220;A Kind of Revolution&#8221;) that the American Revolution was a conflict between British and American elites, <em>not<\/em> a popular uprising. In the years leading up to the war, American elites had two significant problems:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Increased British taxes and tariffs were cutting into their profits.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Class tension was growing among poor whites throughout the mid-18th century over horrible living and working conditions and low pay. Isolated revolts, riots, and rebellions became common: tenant farmers collectively refusing to pay rent, angry mobs storming stores and warehouses for food, and so on.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The American Revolution allowed American elites to address both of these problems: They recruited poor whites to fight the British instead of resisting the colonial class system. <\/strong>While many middle class and elite Americans believed in the ideals of the revolution\u2014such as popular government and universal rights\u2014they ultimately fought for their own benefit, not for any major redistribution of power or wealth between classes. The other classes were ambivalent about the war: Poor whites were either conscripted or joined the war because they needed money. Slaves mainly fought for Britain, who promised freedom in exchange for service. Indians also mostly fought for the British, as they had halted westward expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Some historians argue that <a href=\"https:\/\/nyupress.org\/9781479893409\/the-counter-revolution-of-1776\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the American Revolution was also fought to preserve slavery in colonial America<\/a>. These historians note that, in the late 18th century, enslaved Africans throughout the Caribbean were participating in more and more organized and disorganized revolts. This growing unrest made the British consider abolishing slavery\u2014they were concerned that a slave revolt combined with an enemy invasion could lose them their colonial possessions. Colonial elites responded with the American Revolution, fighting to ensure they could continue owning slaves. This theory also helps explain why so many enslaved people fought for the British during the Revolution in exchange for their freedom.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-forming-the-us\">Forming the US<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After the colonists\u2014aided in large part by the French\u2014forced Britain to withdraw, they formally established the US in 1776. However, when it became clear there weren\u2019t going to be major changes to the distribution of wealth, the same pre-war class tensions returned. Zinn explains that failures to pay Revolutionary War veterans their due wages, new taxes on the poor, and a weak government caused uprisings that threatened to destroy the power of the American elite.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was in this context that a group of almost entirely white elite men came together to draft the US Constitution. <strong>They designed the document to secure their own class position, while conceding just enough power to the middle class to create a broader base of support.<\/strong> The Constitution did this through a number of systems: For example, it created a Supreme Court of justices appointed for life by the president instead of being elected. This ensured they didn\u2019t have to be accountable to the electorate. In addition, the US Constitution distributed Senators equally among states rather than by population, which skewed power away from majority rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Many authors of the US Constitution freely admitted they didn\u2019t want the nation to be <em>too<\/em> democratic. Authors like Alexander Hamilton openly voiced his distrust of the public at large, believing <a href=\"https:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/18th_century\/debates_618.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">they were too irrational and shiftless to run the country<\/a> and that a class of elites needed to keep them in check. In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-federalist-papers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Federalist Papers<\/em><\/a>, James Madison argued that <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-federalist-papers\/chapter-1#against-factions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the US Constitution needed to prevent majority factions from gaining too much power<\/a>, arguing they would use it to infringe upon the rights of a minority\u2014specifically citing the example of the poor infringing on the property rights of the rich by using the government to redistribute wealth.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What economic issues did American elites face in the years leading up to the American Revolution, and how did the war allow them to address these problems? How did poor whites, slaves, and American Indians respond to the war? Howard Zinn titled Chapter 5 of A People\u2019s History of the United States &#8220;A Kind of Revolution.&#8221; He characterizes America&#8217;s war for independence as a conflict between British and American elites rather than an uprising of the masses. Continue reading to get Zinn&#8217;s take on the American Revolutionary War and the formation of the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":124162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,275,24],"tags":[1420],"class_list":["post-124153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-politics","category-society","tag-a-peoples-history-of-the-united-states","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s easy to think of the American Revolution as a glorious uprising of the people. Learn why one historian calls it &quot;a kind of revolution.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s easy to think of the American Revolution as a glorious uprising of the people. Learn why one historian calls it &quot;a kind of revolution.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-12T17:41:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-12T17:41:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-12T17:41:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-12T17:41:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/\"},\"wordCount\":752,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"A People\u2019s History of the United States\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Politics\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/\",\"name\":\"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-12T17:41:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-12T17:41:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"It's easy to think of the American Revolution as a glorious uprising of the people. Learn why one historian calls it \\\"a kind of revolution.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"soldiers and flags in a city street during the American Revolution (\\\"A Kind of Revolution\\\") or the War for Independence\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence - Shortform Books","description":"It's easy to think of the American Revolution as a glorious uprising of the people. Learn why one historian calls it \"a kind of revolution.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence","og_description":"It's easy to think of the American Revolution as a glorious uprising of the people. Learn why one historian calls it \"a kind of revolution.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2024-03-12T17:41:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-12T17:41:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence","datePublished":"2024-03-12T17:41:56+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-12T17:41:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/"},"wordCount":752,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg","keywords":["A People\u2019s History of the United States"],"articleSection":["History","Politics","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/","name":"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg","datePublished":"2024-03-12T17:41:56+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-12T17:41:58+00:00","description":"It's easy to think of the American Revolution as a glorious uprising of the people. Learn why one historian calls it \"a kind of revolution.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"soldiers and flags in a city street during the American Revolution (\"A Kind of Revolution\") or the War for Independence"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-kind-of-revolution\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Kind of Revolution: Howard Zinn on the War for Independence"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/American-revolutionary-war-for-independence.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124153"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124572,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124153\/revisions\/124572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}