There is no shortage of best-selling books about the founding of America and the people who led it, but none quite like one that came out late last year.
Although it has remained under the radar, it’s a landmark contribution to our understanding of the era, opening readers’ eyes to important figures who, though not household names, are part of the founding generation.
These figures include poets whose verses celebrated the battles at Lexington and Concord and the repeal of the Stamp Act, who helped elevate to martyrdom those killed in the Boston massacre, and who lionized the leadership of General George Washington, which so impressed him that he had the poem printed for public consumption.