The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson

In this National Book Award–winning history, Bernard Bailyn re-evaluates the image of colonial governor Thomas Hutchinson and the American loyalists who found themselves on the losing side of the Revolutionary War. His account of the conflict from the viewpoint of a deft but ultimately vanquished statesman marks a turning point in historiography.

Winner of the National Book AwardThe classic political biography that reimagined Revolutionary history—in a new edition to honor America’s 250th year. Thomas Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts Bay during the restive years of 1771–1774, was the most distinguished colonial-born official in pre-Revolutionary America. He was also the most loathed. A loyalist, Hutchinson defended the legitimacy of Parliament’s rule and suffered the consequences, bearing the full weight of Patriot ire. By the eve of the Revolution, he was vilified as the man most responsible for Britain’s intolerable cruelties—not only a tyrant but a traitor. The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson is Bernard Bailyn’s National Book Award–winning history of Hutchinson and the American loyalists who found themselves on the losing side of the Revolutionary War. Offering a dramatic account of the origins of American independence from the viewpoint of one of its most thoughtful opponents, Bailyn makes the loyalist position comprehensible and rehabilitates a deft statesman who was far from the demagogue imagined in Patriot propaganda. Hutchinson in fact shared many Patriot grievances and faithfully represented colonial public opinion to both Crown and Parliament. Yet he was forced from office and died in exile, broken and longing for his native New England. Through a sympathetic yet balanced portrayal of one of the Revolution’s defeated voices, Bailyn reveals with singular clarity why the Revolution prevailed and how those who survived its upheaval came to grasp its transformative power. Published on the 250th anniversary of American independence, with a foreword from Maya Jasanoff, this new edition of Bailyn’s masterpiece marks a turning point in historiography, illuminating the overlooked dimensions of American history and the stories that shape nations.