Mavericks, Mystics, and Misfits: Americans Against the Grain

A fascinating read. Brings US history alive through the stories of courageous men and women who rose to the challenges of their times.

an explication of life-stories that cuts an impressively broad swath through American history, Pilgrim foundations to the present. Nearly four centuries elapse in ten scrupulous and stylishly-written chapters. Hoyle mucks through innumerable wars, Puritan/Indian to WW II, and social phenomenon of each era, each individualized history. With his wide-ranging interests and knowledge, philosophical, theological, ecological, etc., Hoyle brings his misfits back into the fold; his mavericks and mystics to the table. Not in mere sketches, but firmly placed in historical context. His essay on Roger Williams makes exciting the arcane theological disputes between the Puritan fathers and the renegade founder of Rhode Island (not "Road'iland"); his piece on French-born Thomas Paine, provacateur and professional revolutionist (who did as much with a pen to win the American Revolution as Continental soldiers did with their muskets) reads like a series of special bulletins following Paine from one jackpot to another as he dropped his "pamphlets," which went off like bombs on the world stage...Wicked good stuff. In his previous book, THE UNKNOWN HENRY MILLER, Hoyle showed he is as adept a literary critic as historian. He reaffirms that attribute in his new work through solid exegesis of the poetry of Mistress Anne Bradstreet. A Puritan woman who defied gender stereotypes of her era--thus becoming one of Hoyle's mavericks--by not only writing verse, but verse as intellectually ambitious as her (mostly) male contemporaries, and precursors. Other life-tales include that of a decorated WW II soldier/artist who happened to be of Pawnee Indian heritage; a slave couple who escaped bondage and later returned to the American South to help their brethren; a much maligned social philosopher who wrote turgid prose but a seminal book exposing the underside of American society in the Gilded Age; a Chicana muralist who became a powerful voice for social justice in modern day LA; and others, in a roll-call of "great" Americans. Who walked to the beat of a different drummer. Who walked to their own beat. Individualists, rugged or otherwise, usually "at variance," Arthur Hoyle writes, "with the direction of the mainstream society around them." Who thereby became exemplars as mavericks, mystics, and misfits.

The perfect book for these uncertain times. The brazen characters depicted in this American memoir are a lot of fun to read about. I have to admit I had only previously heard of a few of them. Through these rugged, truthful characters, MMM peels back the curtain and let's you know how and why America became a great country. Druring these times of isolation and long spans of uninterrupted time, if you're lucky enpough to be holed up it's the perfect read. I definitely enjoyed it.