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Minds and Hearts
The Story of James Otis Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren
Published by: Bright Leaf
216 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 x 0.70 in, 12 b&w illus.
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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.
Introduction
Chapter 1 Flame of Fire, Calm Retreat
Chapter 2 Root and Fiber
Chapter 3 Childhood Bonds
Chapter 4 Prospects, Possibilities, and Contagious Enthusiasms
Chapter 5 Locke Step
Chapter 6 Anxious Wearisome Days and Nights
Chapter 7 A Comet Passes
Chapter 8 Privation to a Friend
Chapter 9 The Scribbler
Chapter 10 "There is No Receding"
Chapter 11 The Flaming Car
Chapter 12 Wrestling a Female Pen
Chapter 13 The Last Frail Reed
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
JEFFREY H. HACKER is an independent scholar and writer based in Durham, North Carolina.
"Beautifully written and thoroughly researched . . . Hacker interweaves the story of Otis and Warren, crafting a seamless narrative and analyzing their common lives, careers, and growing animosity toward Great Britain. As a result, abstract political ideas take on personal significance."—Rosemarie Zagarri, author of A Woman's Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution
"The dual biography of various 'founders' has become a familiar genre, but this approach only works if the relationship between protagonists reveals insights that a standard solo biography might ignore or downplay. Hacker's insightful work clears this hurdle."—Ray Raphael, author of A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence
"James Otis and Mercy Otis Wilson are thus studied best together . . . 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."—Journal of the American Revolution
Finalist for the 2022 George Washington Prize
