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MAIN CHARACTERS IN MERCY'S STORY
Mercy Otis Warren, first woman historian of the American Revolution and her husband James Warren, President of the Provincial Congress
Samuel Adams
Mrs. Warren's brother, James Otis, Jr "Taxation without Representation Is Tyranny"
Mrs. Warren's friend Abigail Adams
Mrs. Warren's Literary Mentor, John Adams
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Winner of the 2009 Historic Winslow House Book Award
As recently seen in Nancy Rubin Stuart's appearance on C-Span's Book TV:
Click here to watch video: http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=282704-1
Now in paperback!
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony’s work on extraordinary women hailed Founding Mother Mercy Otis Warren (1728–1814) not only for supporting the freedom of American men but “that of her own sex also.”
In this lively biography of the first female historian of the American Revolution and our first woman playwright, Nancy Rubin Stuart captures intimate details of Mrs. Warren’s life and patriotic achievements.
The sister of firebrand James “the Patriot” Otis, who first declared that “taxation without representation is tyranny,” Mrs. Warren was the mother of five sons and the wife of James Warren, Speaker of the Massachusetts House and Paymaster General of the Revolutionary Army.
In 1775 the erudite Mrs. Warren served as her husband’s private secretary at headquarters in Watertown, Massachusetts where she heard news about the Revolution that few men —and virtually no women—enjoyed.
A close friend of Abigail and John Adams, she and Abigail shared fears, comforted each other in their husbands’ absences, exchanged theories about child-rearing and even ran a small importing business together.
John Adams, who was impressed with Mrs. Warren’s acumen and literary abilities, praised her “real genius,” encouraging her to write satirical plays, poems, and a history of the American Revolution. After reading her three volume History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution (1805), however, Adams exploded and, in one of ten blistering letters, accused her of having a “determined resolution” to denigrate his role in the Revolution.
This eye-opening biography reveals their complex relationship—and why it unraveled.
The Muse of the Revolution captures Mrs. Warren’s bold interactions with other famous patriots, including Samuel Adams, Henry Knox, Benjamin Lincoln, Hannah Winthrop, Elbridge Gerry and George and Martha Washington.
Mrs. Warren satirized the British and American Loyalists in her popular plays and poems and authored an influential critique of the U.S. Constitution, whose principles later appeared in the Bill of Rights.
Nancy Rubin Stuart reveals how Mrs. Warren’s provocative writing made her an exception to the largely voiceless women of the eighteenth century, and persuasively argues for her legacy to be understood and appreciated by a new generation.
Nancy at the Statue of Mercy Otis Warren, Barnstable, Massachusetts
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REVIEWS
A riveting biography of one of America's boldest and most influential-but least recognized-Founding Mothers. "This wonderfully researched and readable book has done an excellent job of giving another view of what it took to make this country. Essential for academic and public libraries. Enjoy!"–Library Journal, May 1, 2008
“This commendable biography follows the life of New England patriot Mercy Otis Warren (1728–1814), the celebrated—and sometimes reviled—writer of poems, plays, history and satire...Warren emerges as a fully fleshed-out woman with literary insecurities, intractable opinions and a high-strung temper as well as deep affection for her husband and sons. Stuart includes fascinating period details, focusing primarily on Warren's home-front experiences of rampant inflation, scarcity of goods, high taxes and profiteering during the Revolution as well as typical 18th-century illnesses and family anxieties. Most poignantly, Stuart depicts Warren's loneliness and despair after the deaths of three of her five sons. This account is valuable as an eyewitness play-by-play of the American Revolution and will be a great resource to scholars of women's and literary history."–Publisher's Weekly, May 5, 2008
"Concise and readable... focuses on a founding mother who wrote in part because that was the one way a woman could contribute to the Revolution...there's plenty in Stuart's pages for those interested in the drama of the woman writer in Western culture."–Boston Globe, June 29, 2008
"This dramatic biography makes it clear that future President Adams relied extensively upon advice from his wife, Abigail, as well as upon the guidance of Mercy Otis Warren...As Stuart demonstrates , Warren was a woman of independent hopes and dreams who believed strongly that she could express important ideas to the new American republic with her writing. Thankfully, she was right."–American Spirit, The Magazine of the Daughters of the American Revolution, July/August 2008
"Incredible source data, smooth narratives built around chapters, fragmented around specific moments, and intricate use of historical detail and setting...Stuart breathes new life into an early American poet and historian too often left out of historical discussion."–Metro Spirit, Augusta, Georgia, July 2, 2008
"Nancy Rubin Stuart, the author of several popular biographies, presents Warren in a colorfully anecdotal style. Given the difficulty of reconstructing warren's life, Stuart has artfully set the story in the context of the Revolution and relied upon her subject's friendships, especially with the Adamses. The pace is brisk, if not jaunty... As a lively introduction to the great Mercy Otis Warren, this book is appealing."–Wilson Quarterly
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