The Mind of an American Revolutionary

Overview

Why would an immigrant lad from off the docks of Liverpool, one Robert Morris, pay for critical portions of the American Revolution out of his own pocket, while helping found the first ever bank in the Colonies, and then end up in debtor's prison? Just ask his Bavarian talk therapist, a surgeon in the Hessian Mercenary Army who gets into Morris' complex mind.

Jon Foyt's 12th novel-heavily researched-uncovers the inner motivations of this illegitimate and uneducated immigrant boy who became one of our most unusual Founding Fathers. Relive his affairs, his marriage, and his fortitude, he being only one of three men to sign all vital Revolutionary documents: the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941713235
Publisher:	Andrew Benzie Books
Publication date:	08/21/2015
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	270

About the Author

Jon Foyt lives in an active adult retirement community yet writes with the vigor and romantic bent of a 20-year old. As well as being a long-distance runner (having completed 60 marathons), Foyt is one of the organizers of the 80-member strong Published Writers of Rossmoor group in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also writes a regular column for The Rossmoor News, setting forth the Progressive View of politics in America today.
For more, see: jonfoyt.com

Editorial Reviews

2017-06-08
A novel that details the life of American revolutionary Robert Morris, from his humble beginnings to his triumphant rise and eventual ruin. As the story opens, Morris, a wealthy merchant and a recently elected member of the Continental Congress, spends a cold winter's night at the City Tavern in 1776 Philadelphia, discussing politics with the barmaid, Betsey. The tavern is a gathering place for the "prominent" and the "ordinary" alike to share opinions, emotions, and ideas. Morris is no stranger to so-called ordinary life, growing up uneducated in Liverpool, England, without a mother. He shares his revolutionary ideologies with Betsey just as passionately as he does with Maj. Wilhelm von Lowenstein, a doctor in the Hessian Mercenary Army, sent to the Colonies to study the "unseen battle scars" inflicted on the minds of soldiers. As the narrative progresses, Foyt (Time to Retire, 2013, etc.) explores and develops Morris' character through these conversations, embellishing on his grand economic plans to expand his sea-merchant trading business and his hopes of freedom from the English crown. Unfortunately, as Morris' arrogance and hunger for wealth and power grow, his impending demise becomes apparent. Foyt has written this thoroughly researched novel with great attention to detail, bringing dusty history to life with down-to-earth tales of the everyday experiences of the American Revolution, and he offers plenty of settings that will be familiar to aficionados of the era. Rather than telling a war story with tired tropes of battlefield heroism and gore, the author instead examines the inner workings of Morris' psyche through imagined but historically rich dialogue, and he effectively shows how passion, power, and an obsession with the idea of revolution drive the Founding Father to a point of irreversible greed. As a result, watching his downfall becomes just as engrossing as his impressive rise to success—if not more so. An ambitious interpretation of an intriguing figure that should appeal to historical-fiction enthusiasts.

Kirkus Reviews