Welcome to the Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates series.

I'm your host Paul Vogel saying and this is episode number 199.

As part of our Smithsonian Associates Art of Living series, our guest today on the not-old-better show is Richard Bell.

Author historian Richard Bell examines the American Revolution from the point of I guess if we think of them at all, we tend to

storiously loyal to Britain and the crown. So when we think of the

American Revolution's loyalists, I guess if we think of them at all, we tend to stereotype them as sycophantic, as cowardly, and a selfish rich people, usually fat cat merchants, pretentious petty aristocrats, or government officials

like tax collectors. And I don't think it usually crosses our minds to consider that remaining

loyal to the British Empire might just have been a sensible, even

attractive choice, not just for the wealthy but for ordinary people too. So my talk at the Smithsonian this

month tries to make sense of the American Revolution from the perspective of these

loyalists, especially those loyalists on some of the lower runs of the social leather.

That of course is our guest today, author, historian Richard Bell.

Richard Bell has written the book We Shall Be No More, Suicide and Self- Government in the

newly United States and his new book is titled The Blackest Market,

Kidnapping, Slavery, and Salvation.

Richard Bell will be at the Smithsonian Associates Program presenting the

wrong side of history, loyalists in the American Revolution.

Please join me in welcoming to the not old better show via Skype Richard Bell.

Richard Bell welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me.

Tell us briefly about your upcoming Smithsonian Associates Associates presentation.

So I'm giving a talk about the experience of being a loyalist

...