A01=Nicholas W. Gentile
American independence local perspective
American independence stories
American Revolution history
approbation
armed conflict
Ashley Bowen
Author_Nicholas W. Gentile
Benjamin Marston
British press gangs
Category=JP
Category=NHK
Category=NHTQ
Category=WQH
codfish aristocracy
colonial dissent
colonial history
colonial New England
colonial New England communities
colonial town meetings
committee members
community
Continental Association
de facto governing bodies
death threats
early American democracy
early American patriotism
early American political polarization
early Republic
elections
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
exile
gratitude
Great Britain
identity
independence
John Pedrick
just censure
Lexington and Concord
local economy
local history of the Revolution
local narratives
local perspective on Revolution
loyalism
loyalist persecution in America
loyalists vs patriots
Marblehead Massachusetts history
Massachusetts
Massachusetts colonial economy
Massachusetts colonial history
Massachusetts independence movement
Massachusetts patriots
Massachusetts Revolutionary heritage
Massachusetts Revolutionary history
memory
merchants
microhistory
neutrals
New England fishing towns
officers
ostracism
patriot
patriots
political polarization
political polarization in history
recantation
Revolutionary era civic engagement
Revolutionary era conflict
Revolutionary era political struggle
Revolutionary War civic life
Revolutionary War community divisions
Revolutionary War community stories
Revolutionary War community tensions
Revolutionary War consensus building
Revolutionary War exile stories
Revolutionary War family conflict
Revolutionary War family stories
Revolutionary War heritage
Revolutionary War hidden stories
Revolutionary War in New England
Revolutionary War loyalist experience
Revolutionary War Massachusetts
Revolutionary War microhistory
Revolutionary War neighbors divided
Revolutionary War personal stories
Revolutionary War religious communities
Revolutionary War small towns
Revolutionary War towns
Revolutionary War unsung stories
royal governor
separation
social pressure
Thomas Hutchinson
Tories
traders
wavering
Whigs
Product details
- ISBN 9781625348951
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 30 Sep 2025
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Complicating the American Revolution through a microhistory of one Massachusetts town
In 1774, a group of elite men in the town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, just outside Salem, wrote an address to the royal governor thanking him for his service to the colony, even as town residents began demanding independence from Great Britain. Town meeting records reveal how the town's patriot majority pressured the signers to withdraw their support for the governor and demanded public recantations and issued damning reports, even forcing some of the signers into exile.
Enemies to Their Country tells the story of the year following the Address, chronicling the town's struggle to achieve consensus even as the war for American independence started. This microhistory of one vitally important town, the second largest in Massachusetts at the time, with a thriving local economy based on fishing and a robust community of religious and civically engaged citizens, complicates simplistic ideas of the American Revolution. Through compelling stories of neighboring individuals and families, many of which have not been told, it also provides an example of a politically polarized constituency struggling to find consensus at a time of great conflict.
In 1774, a group of elite men in the town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, just outside Salem, wrote an address to the royal governor thanking him for his service to the colony, even as town residents began demanding independence from Great Britain. Town meeting records reveal how the town's patriot majority pressured the signers to withdraw their support for the governor and demanded public recantations and issued damning reports, even forcing some of the signers into exile.
Enemies to Their Country tells the story of the year following the Address, chronicling the town's struggle to achieve consensus even as the war for American independence started. This microhistory of one vitally important town, the second largest in Massachusetts at the time, with a thriving local economy based on fishing and a robust community of religious and civically engaged citizens, complicates simplistic ideas of the American Revolution. Through compelling stories of neighboring individuals and families, many of which have not been told, it also provides an example of a politically polarized constituency struggling to find consensus at a time of great conflict.
Nicholas W. Gentile is an independent historian.
