A fascinating look at a lesser known figure of the American Revolution. Joseph Warren's role has been acknowledged less and less over time and this book does a great job of both humanizing him and showing exactly how huge of an impact he had before his death at Bunker Hill.

“Founding Martyr” is about Doctor Joseph Warren, a man who was very influential in the years before the American War for Independence, but whose untimely death at Bunker (Breed’s) Hill on June 17,1775 robbed the nascent nation of a unique voice. Dr Warren of Boston was radicalized earlier than most Americans, and was in the mix with Samuel Adams and his cousin John, John Hancock, and other Whigs and radicals.

Joseph Warren was the eldest son of a Roxbury, Massachusetts farmer, and attended Harvard, after which he apprenticed with a Doctor Lloyd in Boston, before setting up his own practice. He soon became rich and prominent, having Whigs and Tories among his patients. He also ministered to poor people, and accounts of his show that he was often paid in kind.

If Joseph Warren had not died so young, and so early in the fight for Independence, he would have been remembered as one of the most influential Founders. His loss was a grave one, and came at a horrible time. I would have liked to have seen more discussion about Warren as a person; Di Spignia is excellent at recounting what happened, and when, but there is not really enough why. This may be no fault of the author as Warren is known for having burned a lot of his papers in order to keep them from falling into enemy hands. Still, a really great biography helps the reader to get under the skin of the biography’s subject, and this “Founding Martyr” fails to do.

So often in history we look back and think of what might have been. If Joseph Warren had not been killed in battle he would have undoubtedly been accorded a place with the greatest of the Founders; who knows, he might even have become president or vice-president himself. The country and posterity lost a great man on that summer day in Boston, his contemporaries knew it at the time, and it is good to see Warren recalled from obscurity.

Joseph Warren was one of the most important and influential members of the Sons of Liberty and extralegal government in Boston during the run up to the American Revolution and has been the subject of more books lately. I appreciated that this book did not sensationalize him like some others did, implying that he had a mistress (he was widowed at the time, who cares), or taking his words and adding more emphasis than Warren did. I enjoyed learning about his early life, especially how his time at Harvard influenced him later. The quotes from his letters and speeches were great, as well. I am a little concerned about the history in the latter of the book, however. 8 Lexingtonians were killed at the green on April 19, 1775 rather than 9. Paul Revere didn't actually light the lanterns or send out the signal himself (Robert Newman and Capt Pulling did). I am hoping that these issues are resolved by the time the book is published.


I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley,. My reviews are unbiased and completely my own. #Netgalley #FoundingMartyr

Joseph Warren was an honest, intelligent, upstanding doctor and orator in Boston during the Colonial and Revolutionary period. This man whom author Christian Di Spigna calls The Founding Martyr rose from humble beginnings to attend Harvard and become an outstanding physician and leader in the Whig Party.
His persuasive writing and oratory skills would lead to his influencing the Suffolk Resolves, inciting the citizenry to resist Crown policies..Unfortunately Warren did not live to see the end product of his efforts. On June 17, 1775, Major General Joseph Warren was killed in battle.
I cannot explain what drove Warren to risk his family, fortune and life but I didn't get to know him. The book chronicles all his achievements but not with angst or emotion. Everything Warren does he does well, and with seemingly little pain and discomfort. When his family is in danger in Boston, he packs them up and sends them to the country under the care of his brother. He remains in Boston and continues giving speeches. British soldiers threaten assassinations but he is never harmed nor worried.
I wish more attention had been paid to human interaction than to achievements. A page and a half of the book is denoted to Mrs. Warrens death. The painting of Dr. Warren by Jonathan Singleton Copley is extensively detailed for over three pages of the book. I know more about the painting than about Warrens relationship with his wife and her views.
The book is well researched and very detailed. Dr. Warren is not an unknown Colonial patriot but unfortuntely this book does not raise his to the rank of outstanding leader of the Revolution.
I give this book 2.5 stars. I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley,. My reviews are unbiased and completely my own. #Netgalley #FoundingMartyr

I received a free Kindle copy of Founding Martyr by Christian Di Spigna courtesy of Net Galley  and Crown Publishing, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as  I am an avid reader of american history and the description of the book sounded interesting and covered a subject about which I have not previously read. This is the first book by Christian Di Spigna that I have read.

The subtitle of the book "The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution's Lost Hero" is a very good summation of the book. It covers the brief life of Dr. Warren from a child to his death at the end of the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was a leader of revolutionary thought in the Boston area and was well liked or at least admired by both sides of the conflict. Although, towards the end the Tories and the British both despised him as indicated by the desecration of his body after it was found by them.

I found the book to be well written and researched. The author does an very good job of showing how Joseph Warren is one of the forgotten early heroes of the American Revolution.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in American history and the events leading up to the Revolutionary War in particular.

FOUNDING MARTYR is a must-read for anyone interested in the American Revolution. Well-researched and compellingly written, this essential biography resurrects the life of Dr. Joseph Warren — a “lost hero” until now, largely neglected by historians, even though he might have been an early President if not killed at Bunker Hill. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for an advance copy. Opinions are mine.

FoundingMartyr #NetGalley

I found Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution's Lost Hero a fascinated read. I recommend it! 4 stars.

With extensive citations, Di Spigna reconstructs the tragically short life of Dr. Joseph Warren, central to the decade preceding the revolution, but dead on Bunker Hill near its opening shots. Warren is the prototypical Whig son of New England--from a farming family, but the product of Harvard's social stratification and his own charming upward mobility, builder of a network of patients, allies and in-laws supporting his politics and financial success, always anchored by the Great Awakening's fervent religious enthusiasms. The epilogue covers the many ways in which Warren (and his physical body) were invoked for various reasons--reburial before the Civil War, use in early Republican histories, as well as the ways in which Congress quickly forgot his orphaned children and the woman who was nearly his second wife.