Americans are surprisingly more familiar with John Hancock‘s famous signature than with the man himself. In a spirited account of Hancock’s life, Brooke Barbier’s King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father (Harvard University Press, 2023) depicts a patriot of fascinating contradictions ― a child of enormous privilege who would nevertheless become a voice of the common folk; a pillar of society uncomfortable with radicalism who yet was crucial to independence.
About two-fifths of the American population held neutral or ambivalent views about the Revolution, and Hancock spoke for them and to them, bringing them along. [Read more…] about King Hancock: Drinking with John Hancock during the American Revolution
