The Muse of the Revolution

The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation

By Nancy Rubin Stuart

­ “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

  " Nancy Rubin Stuart, the author of several poppular 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 Revoluton and relied upon her subject's friendships, especially with the Admses.  The pace is brisk, if not jaunty... As a lively introudction to the great Mercy Otis Warren, this book is appealing." -- Wilson Quarterly