4 Cassettes, 6 hrs.
Performance by Victor Garber

RISE TO REBELLION is set in the tumultuous years leading up to the American Revolution in 1776. In chapters, narrated by a wide variety of characters both British and colonist, listeners are made to understand the complex issues and circumstances that are leading to the inevitable war.

Benjamin Franklin, the colonist's senior diplomat, is living in London in 1770 as the novel opens. In his wise observations and conversations with his British counterparts, Franklin relates the growing hunger for freedom that is building in the colonies. Already in 1770 some of the more radical of the colonists, such as Sam Adams, are doing all they can to rouse their fellow citizens to active rebellion. Others, such as John Adams, are more cautious about rushing to war, though we see their patience wear thin when they realize that the British have no intention of giving in to even their smallest demands for everyday freedoms.
RISE TO REBELLION succeeds not only by dramatizing the events of the time— The Boston Tea Party, and The Battles of Concord and Bunker Hill, most prominently —but also by engaging us in the personal lives of the main characters. Whether it is Franklin thinking of his wife whom he has left behind in the colonies while he serves his country in London, or John Adams reflecting on the imminent birth of his son and the kind of country he is being born into, we are always struck by the power of these remarkable men to shape their times and their destinies.