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G**N
Labor of Love
Labor of LoveResearching and writing this book was clearly a labor of love for Dr. Forman as in the French amateur (“lover of”) and Latin amator (“lover”). The book though is very much an amateur effort in the sense of non-professional. It is poorly written, verbose, redundant, and unfocused. With disciplined writing and tight editing the book could easily have been half its length. It is rife with speculation and fictionalization in an attempt to illuminate and elevate the place of Joseph Warren in the pantheon of American patriots. Speculation is a form of interpretation; however, Forman carries it to excess. Biographies by necessity do include some fictionalization grounded in historical fact. As with his speculation Forman’s fictionalization is much over done and often over the top.The first quarter of the book (chapters 1-8) describes Warren’s ancestry, education, medical practice, Masonic affiliation, and other aspects of his life in great detail. The essential aspects of these eight chapters could have been distilled into one concise chapter, providing the background for the reader to assess how Warren’s circumstances, life experiences, and character helped to shape his politics and rise to leadership as a patriot of the American Revolution. Chapter 10, Patriotism’s Spark, begins the account of Warren’s political life. But Chapter 13 Family and Love Life incongruously interrupts that story. None of the following chapters add anything to what is already known about Warren other than Forman speculating beyond the bounds of the data, which is disconcerting rather than informative. The concluding chapters include a rambling editorial of why Joseph Warren has been forgotten and why and how Forman “is striving to reverse Warren’s obscurity through “an economy of effort, emotive force, and resonance with modern tastes and technologies” (Kindle location 6393). Among Forman’s suggestions are dramatization of historical events that include Warren (Kindle location 6405) and reburial of Warren close to “his Patriot comrades and friends” (Kindle location 6412).The “Rainspout Episode” that begins at Kindle location 437 is a prime example of Forman’s rambling and excess of speculation. In short, it is claimed that Warren climbed a downspout to gain access to a locked room where friends were having a meeting. The implication is that this act demonstrated Warren’s resolve and courage. Forman rambles on through Kindle location 504 speculating whether the story is true and what it means about Warren’s character. In one section, “Troubling Parallels to George Washington and the Cherry Tree,” he goes on at length explaining why the rainspout story might not be true. In the next section, “Ring of Truth,” he argues why it might be true. Forman spends 13 Kindle pages speculating about this one episode. In contrast, Richard Frothingham in “Life and Times of Joseph Warren” describes the episode in 1 1/2 Kindle pages (Kindle location 329-335). Frothingham with an economy of style conveys as much about the implications of this episode with respect to Warren’s character as Forman does taking more than ten times the space. Indeed, Forman’s speculations obfuscate the implications regarding Warren’s character.Consider the following as an example of Forman’s excess of fictionalization. “Based on circumstantial evidence, I speculate that Joseph Warren was the stage manager of the Destruction of the Tea [Tea Party]. I can imagine the director of Addison’s Cato and the deliverer of the 1775 [sic] Massacre Oration bedecked in a toga in that role” (Kindle location 3213). “Samuel Adams, with his puritanical condemnation of theater, would not have been so imaginative” (Kindle location 3214). Forman goes on for several pages in this vein citing circumstantial evidence to speculate that Warren was the organizer of the Tea Party and not Sam Adams. He sums up, “In my speculative account, stage manager Joseph Warren unobtrusively taps Samuel Adams on the shoulder. He whispers into his ear, ‘British units continue to lay quiet in the harbor, the Indians are in the wings ready for their entrance, our enemies have not relented in their determination to land the tea. Your cue’” (Kindle location 3252). Contrast this tripe and fantasy with Allen French’s account Chapter IV, The Tea-Party and Its Consequences, in the “Siege of Boston” and other accounts by professional historians.The most egregious example of Forman’s amateurish fictionalization of history is Chapter 15, The Way To War. Forman states, “I present the most likely scenario in fictionalized form, the outlines of which follow sparse primary sources” (Kindle location 4548). The scenario is a complete fantasy of Forman’s mind. His imagined description of Warren’s conversation with Mercy Scollay and Margaret Gage belongs in a cheap romantic novel and not a self-claimed serious biography. Two examples of the dialogue: Mercy incensed by jealously exclaims referring to Margaret Gage, “’ That woman! How could you? … Before he could utter a sound, his accuser continued, ‘There is something between you and that woman. I know it.’” Later in the chapter, speaking of Margaret Gage Forman imagines Warren thinking, “He could have added that he wished to hold the lady in his arms. Her lanquid expression, her brunette tresses, her grace, … combined to intoxicate.” Other dialogue in the chapter is degrading and insulting. For example, the dialogue he choses to use for Zeporah a black servant: “I knows you’d ax me dat, doctor. But Jupiter [her husband Gage’s servant], he listen hard but they ain’t sayin’ least not when he could be a-hearin’.”Such flights of fancy and language do not mark Forman as a serious historian and scholar. And for those reviewers impressed by the bibliography—number of references (including primary sources—the “red badge of courage” of the amateur) do not alone a scholar make. The scholar distills, interprets, and transforms these data into a coherent and compelling narrative.The book includes five appendices, which are about 10% of the volume.In sum, the book is a full account of the life of Dr. Joseph Warren with much unwarranted and unnecessary speculation and fictionalizaton. It’s worth noting the appendices, notes, and bibliography are about 25% of the book. Only about half the book is devoted to the theme and principal topics “the Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty.” The factual elements and credibility of Forman’s biography are greatly diluted and compromised by idolization of Warren and overblown speculations and fictionalized history.I gleaned greater insight into the life and character of Joseph Warren and his role in the birth of the Nation from Frothingham’s “Life and Times of Joseph Warren” and French’s “The Siege of Boston.” Forman’s book is not needed to revive and secure the status of Joseph Warren in the pantheon of American Revolution patriots. The legacy of Dr. Joseph Warren is well known to contemporary students of (i.e., those who take a interest in) the American Revolution. Warren’s importance as a luminary in the events leading to the American Revolution is undisputed and not forgotten.P.S. I rated this book 2 stars instead of 1 because the bibliographic references and appendices might be useful to someone particularly interested in Warren.
L**S
Finally a definitive biography on America's most famous forgotten founding father
Most of the founding fathers are surrounded by so much literature that it is hard to know where to start and who to trust. Unfortunately, Joseph Warren has been all but forgotten by modern Americans--and, sadder yet, even most history books only mention him nominally. As a result, researching Warren is a frustrating task unless you live in or near Boston and have direct access to their historical records.For those of us who know about and value Dr. Joseph Warren's contributions to the American Revolution, Dr. Forman's book is a sigh of relief.This biography is the book I wish had been written when I started my own research on Warren years ago. Dr. Warren was a complex and enigmatic figure. He also needs to be understood in many different roles: doctor, patriot, writer, free mason, politician, soldier, as well as in the context of his family, that writing about him can become difficult.This biography manages to shed light on every aspect of Dr. Warren's life, which helps him emerge in three dimensions for the first time. Forman approaches his subject topically in order to fully address each area. For instance, Forman devotes an entire chapter to Warren as doctor, but doesn't simply talk about his medical training or his patients tended to. He also covers 18th Century medicine as a whole, in order to understand Warren's approach to medicine in the context of his times, and how he fit the standards and expectations of his day, and how he broke apart from them.You can expect the same treatment from every chapter.From someone who researched Warren extensively (as an amateur) it was obvious to me how much first hand research Forman did for this biography. This is *not* a regurgitation of information you can find in other sources. Forman dug deep in the primary records not just pertaining to Warren, but also those around him. As a result, every chapter is full of brand new discoveries which helped me understand Joseph Warren less as a martyr-patriot hero, but as a real man, with real motives. This is the first book to truly bring him to life for me.You'll be surprised to find the information uncovered here which definitively answers the question of how Warren died (a 236 year old mystery solved!) as well as his ambitious workings behind the scenes to gain influence and power as a freemason, and some juicy insights into his love life!Any student of the Revolution needs to read this book, and get to know this forgotten, but essential Founder.
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