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Minds and Hearts: The Story of James Otis Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren
As a firebrand attorney and political agitator, James Otis Jr. helped to shape colonial resistance in the decades leading up to the American Revolution, establishing individual rights and "no taxation without representation" as cornerstones of the patriot cause. After his violent coffeehouse altercation and bouts with mental illness, his younger sister, Mercy Otis Warren, took up his cause. Her incendiary plays and poems rallied colonial opinion in the lead-up to the war, and her chronicle of the period established her as America's first female historian.
Minds and Hearts is the dual biography of these remarkable siblings, placing James and Mercy in the spotlight together for the first time, amid the rush of events, competing ideologies, and changing social conditions of eighteenth-century America. Jeffrey H. Hacker crafts a compelling narrative that focuses on the Otises' unique and dramatic relationship and traces their impact on the Revolutionary movement in Massachusetts. If the real American Revolution took place "in the minds and hearts of the people," as John Adams claimed, then the Otises were among the nation's true patriots.
Minds and Hearts is the dual biography of these remarkable siblings, placing James and Mercy in the spotlight together for the first time, amid the rush of events, competing ideologies, and changing social conditions of eighteenth-century America. Jeffrey H. Hacker crafts a compelling narrative that focuses on the Otises' unique and dramatic relationship and traces their impact on the Revolutionary movement in Massachusetts. If the real American Revolution took place "in the minds and hearts of the people," as John Adams claimed, then the Otises were among the nation's true patriots.
216 pages, Paperback
Published June 25, 2021
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October 19, 2021
Full review in the Journal of the American Revolution https://allthingsliberty.com/2021/10/...
James Otis and Mercy Otis Wilson are thus studied best together. When done so effectively, as is the case in Minds and Hearts, it becomes apparent how the pair helped give impetus and shape to the Revolution and the young Republic legally and politically. For those who are not versed in their story, Hacker’s newest work serves as an admirable introduction to it and many other details of New England social, political, and religious life in just over two hundred pages.
James Otis and Mercy Otis Wilson are thus studied best together. When done so effectively, as is the case in Minds and Hearts, it becomes apparent how the pair helped give impetus and shape to the Revolution and the young Republic legally and politically. For those who are not versed in their story, Hacker’s newest work serves as an admirable introduction to it and many other details of New England social, political, and religious life in just over two hundred pages.
Displaying 1 of 1 review