The Ocean State

A History of Rhode Island

By: Daniel Hardy

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A Sweeping HIstory of the Great State of Rhode Island

America's smallest state has an outsized story to tell. From Roger Williams's radical experiment in religious freedom to Samuel Slater's mill that launched the Industrial Revolution, from the dark profits of the slave trade to the fierce struggles of immigrant mill workers, Rhode Island has been a laboratory for democracy's greatest promises and deepest contradictions.

The Ocean State traces four centuries of Rhode Island history, revealing how a tiny colony of religious exiles became the birthplace of American industry, a haven for immigrants, and a persistent thorn in the side of established power. Here are the Gilded Age mansions and the crumbling mill towns, the political bosses and the rebels, the dreamers who believed a better world was possible and the cynics who knew better. From Anne Hutchinson's theological battles to the Dorr Rebellion's armed conflict for voting rights, from Newport's jazz age to Providence's troubled renaissance, this is the story of a place too small to hide from its own history.

Rhode Island has always punched above its weight—inventing American manufacturing, pioneering religious liberty, and demonstrating that democracy's messiest experiments often happen in the most intimate spaces. In an era of climate crisis, inequality, and democratic fragility, Rhode Island's struggles and innovations feel more relevant than ever. This is a history that asks what freedom really means, what it costs, and whether we're willing to pay the price.