Excerpt
“For William Hogeland, thinking about history is an act of moral inquiry and high citizenship. A searching and original voice.”
Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland“In this dynamic narrative, William Hogeland convincingly demonstrates that America’s decision for independence was anything but inevitable. Hogeland’s lively portrayal of the principal actors in the drama -- Sam Adams, John Adams, Tom Paine, and a fascinating cast of lesser-known street radicals -- is superb. As we follow his story, we come to appreciate anew the ways in which those nine weeks preceding independence would change not only America, but also the world.”
--Richard R. Beeman, Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania, and author of Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution
“A vivid and thrilling account of the struggles that tipped the balance for independence in the weeks before the Declaration. Moving between the politics of the street and the politics of the State House, Hogeland traces the working-class 1776 revolution in Philadelphia back to seventeenth-century English radicals like Levellers and Diggers, and he dramatizes a conflict between upscale American Whigs and radical American democrats, which resonates throughout our history and continues in tensions between radicals and accomodationist liberals today. Along the way, a new and more complex and nuanced John Adams emerges. As with a good novel, I was sorry when it ended.”
-- Jesse Lemisch, Professor Emeritus of History, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York“The creation of the Declaration of Independence was, like so many iconic American stories, anything but neat and tidy. Hogeland has written a fearless work of narrative history, one whose breakneck pace and wide-ranging lens perfectly mirrors the palpable sense of urgency and momentousness in the streets and staterooms of Philadelphia during the summer of 1776.”
--Scott Berg, author of Grand Avenues: The Story of the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C.