Rarely in American history has a political figure been so pilloried anddespised as Thomas Hutchinson Governor of Massachusetts and an ardent loyalistof the Crow... » 

Rarely in American history has a political figure been so pilloried anddespised as Thomas Hutchinson Governor of Massachusetts and an ardent loyalistof the Crown in the days leading up to the American revolution.In this narrative and analytic life of Hutchinson the first since BernardBailyns PulitzerPrizewinning biography a quarter century ago Andrew StephenWalmsley traces Hutchinsons decline from wellrespected member of Bostonsgoverning class to Americas leading object of revolutionary animus. Walmsleyargues that Hutchinson rather than simply a victim of his inability tounderstand the passions associated with a revolutionary movement was in factdefeated in a classic political and personal struggle for power. No meresycophant for the British Hutchinson was keenly aware of how much he had tolose if revolutionary forces prevailed which partially explains his evolutionfrom nearWhig to intransigent loyalist. His consequent vilification became avehicle through which the growing patriot movement sought to achievelegitimacy.An entertaining and thoughtprovoking view of revolutionary events from theperspective of the losing side Thomas Hutchinson and the Origins of theAmerican Revolution tells the story of the American Revolution through theprism of one of its most famous detractors. «