The Brave Bostonians: Hutchinson, Quincy, Franklin, and the Coming of the American Revolution

By Philip McFarland

Book Overview

Most Americans are familiar with the Revolution through its defining moments: the Stamp Act riots, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's ride, the first shots fired at Lexington and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081333652X
• ISBN13: 9780813336527
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

loyal patriots

Engrossing, a real page-turner and indeed a study of how to write well and bring history to life. Ben from Brooklyn's review is totally concurred with by this Aussie. Author Philip McFarland's superb narrative brings back the diplomatic tensions and intrigues as the mother country and her colonial siblings slide to war. Sir Thomas Hutchison, a great if tragic American Loyalist figure is portrayed sensitively as his lonely exile becomes a permanent fixture, to his death in 1780 with the American Revolution still raging. On the patriot side,the author describes the 'turning' of that colossus and diplomatic agent, Ben Franklin, after being humiliated by the Privy Council, over leaking Hutchison's stolen correspondence. Josiah Quincy is the tragic young figure in all the diplomatic wrangling 1774-75, dying aboard ship on his return voyage, in American waters. Above all, the author does not engage in an anti-British tirade and indeed Dartmouth and Lord Richard Howe are revealed as having warm feelings towards the Americans. For anyone interested in the American Revolution this is a must-read.

Engrossing.

I bought this because of specialized interest (Franklin) but found that it was a real page-turner (not my usual response to American Revolution). For anybody with the faintest interest in American History this is totally engrossing. Probably also a good study on how to write well -- I think it's the structure and organization.

Pictures people and problems in governing Am colonies.

This book centers on the period between the Boston tea party and the start of the war for independence. Hutchinson, Loyalist and ex-governor of Massachusetts, and Franklin and Quincy, patriots, are in London trying to influence the government's policies toward the colonies. The letters and journals of these three men give a lively picture of their activities, which included meetings with King George, Pitt, and other leaders of the day. The Brave Bostonians is a good read and illustrates the problems, ironies, false hopes, and false assumptions that plagued England's efforts to govern a country many weeks away.