-Paul Bracken, professor of political science, Yale University,
and author of Fire in the East: The Rise of Asian Military Power and the Second Nuclear Age
Dr. Joseph Warren conducted what was surely the most unusual medical practice in America's early history. He collected key military intelligence prior to the Revolutionary War from a network of spies acting as patients and was among early American doctors to use dead bodies for anatomical study. However, that is only part of his story.
By virtue of directing the original Minute Men, Warren is considered a founder of the Army National Guard. He served as president of the 1775 Massachusetts Provincial Congress, where he advocated for a military accountable only to elected government, and as a Freemasonry Grand Master. Finally, as a military general, Warren was the first high-ranking American officer killed during the Revolutionary War.
This definitive biography is accompanied by an enlightening series of appendices, which include a forensic reconstruction of the doctor's account books.
Dr. Samuel A. Forman has a personal mission to increase enthusiasm for American core values. He became intrigued by the references to Joseph Warren, whose résumé defied belief that one person could do many things, much less do them simultaneously, well, and frequently lead them.
Early in his research for this book, Forman attended lectures on the American Revolution by Prof. David Hackett Fischer, Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author of books on the era, who commented that "it may take a physician to tell Warren's story properly." Making sense of opaque eighteenth-century physician's account books, a feat of both forensic analysis and medical historical scholarship, turned out to be the elusive key to understanding Joseph Warren's life experiences. It is an accomplishment that only a scholar-physician could hope to achieve.
A father of five, Forman lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Foreword 9
Acknowledgments 13
1 An Apple a Day—Family, Youth, and Adolescence 19
2 College Education—Joseph Warren and the Rainspout 29
3 Apprentice Physician 42
4 Breaking the Smallpox's Siege of Boston 54
5 Graph Iatroos and a Medical Society for Massachusetts 63
6 Healing Waters 67
7 A Case of Medical Malpractice 70
8 Patient Interactions 88
9 A Commonwealth of Masons 109
10 Patriotism's Spark 126
11 Apprentice Politician 141
12 High Son of Liberty 161
13 Family and Love Life 178
14 Stage Center 194
15 The Way to War 237
16 Military Affairs 250
17 Siege of Boston 270
18 Final Act 289
19 Aftermath 307
20 Into History 315
21 On Fame and Forgetfulness 325
Appendix I Account Books 335
Appendix II Artifacts and Relics Associated with Joseph Warren 345
Appendix III Quest for Warren's Head 356
Appendix IV Places Named after Joseph Warren 367
Appendix V Attributions to Miss Mercy Scoliay 370
Notes 381
Selected Bibliography 413
Index 429
It is amazing in such a short life, Dr. Joseph Warren did so much and was the catalyst behind such institutions as Harvard's medical school and Mass. Medical Association. Who knows how influential of a politician he would have been had he not been killed at the battle of Bunker Hill? Dr. Samuel Forman writes a compelling biography which reacquaints the reader with a forgotten Founding Father. Not only are there numerous chapters detailing his life, Dr. Forman includes forensic details of his medical practice and death.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.In the beginning (and this is not the Bible), a doctor who was living in Boston was starting to play a very important role in the things that happened leading up to the American Revolution. This is a biography of that man, Dr. Joseph Warren. Warren, who, among other things, sent Paul Revere on his famous ride through the countryside, was present at the Boston Tea Party and was a hero in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Readers will be delighted with this book and its star. Certainly everyone who has read and studied the American Revolution knows all about the main founding fathers but few know the important role that Dr. Warren took on. Dr. Warren had an extremely rare medical practice as he collected important military intelligence before the War taken from spies acting as patients in his practice. Dr. Warren directed the first American Minutemen and was the first highly-ranked American Officer killed during the Revolution.
It’s been many years since a biography has been written of Dr. Warren and, according to the author’s research, only two have been written on Dr. Warren’s life. This author has not forgotten to include many of Dr. Warren’s accomplishments as well as his military service. According to research by Mr. Forman, Dr. Warren was a doctor, teacher, freemason, soldier, family man and politician. The book is written like fiction in many places so the reader will feel as if they know the man, his family and even something of his childhood. We see the human interest side to Dr. Warren, and not just his accomplishments in the War.
This book is well worth reading. For readers, like yours truly, who thought they knew a lot about the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers, it gives a thorough portrait of Dr. Joseph Warren and the part that he played in the history of our liberty. It will be to the reader's advantage to read the appendices (5 in all) covering the Doctor’s account books, Artifacts and Relics Associated with Joseph Warren, the Quest for Warren’s Head, (this sounds really weird but did happen), Places Named after Joseph Warren and Attributions to Miss Mercy Scollay. These appendices read just like fiction and are truly a great addition to this book.
Quill Says: This is a story about an extremely overlooked founder who really played a huge part in the country’s fight for freedom from the English. Many historians will be anxious to read the story of Dr. Warren. This is a definite keeper in the biography/historian’s and perhaps, even the fiction reader’s library.
Anonymous
Posted December 13, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
-Paul Bracken, professor of political science, Yale