The Baron of Beacon Hill: A Biography of John Hancock

John Hancock belongs to that nearly mythical assemblage, the Founding Fathers, and his bold signature across the Declaration of Independence has placed him among the most famous of that legendary group. Indeed, the very renown of his signature has tended to obscure his position as one of the most extraordinary politicians in American history. Boston was a town filled with men of political ambition, yet Hancock soon became the most prominent of them all. From his mansion atop Beacon Hill, he managed to dominate the politics of Boston and of Massachusetts for nearly thirty years. He was an active, if sometimes covert, participant in the events leading to the Revolution. And as President of the Second Continental Congress he knew, and was known by, all the important people of his day. The Baron of Beacon Hill is more than the biography of a great man. It also tells the story of eighteenth-century Boston and of the birth of the American republic. Vivid and immensely readable, it captures both the unique character of its subject and the excitement of his times. WILLIAM M. FOWLER, JR received his PH.D. fro the University of Notre Dame and is now Associate Professor of History at Northeastern University in Boston. In addition to his numbers articles for magazines and newspapers, he has written tow other books- William Ellery: A Rhode Island Politico and Lord of admiralty and Rebels Under Sail, aa dramatic account of the American navy during the Revolution. He and his wife and daughter live in Reading, Massachusetts. -from the flyleaf of The Baron of Beacon Hill, A Biography of John Hancock