{"product_id":"9781933859941","title":"The Cost of Liberty: The Life of John Dickinson","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“[Murchison] employ[s] his incomparable pen and vivid historical imagination in the cause of bringing back to life one of the most underrated and misunderstood of the Founders.”\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e —\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe American Conservative\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Cost of Liberty \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eoffers a sorely needed reassessment of a great patriot and misunderstood Founder.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt has been more than a half century since a biography of John Dickinson appeared. Author William Murchison rectifies this mistake, bringing to life one of the most influential figures of the entire Founding period, a principled man whose gifts as writer, speaker, and philosopher only Jefferson came near to matching. In the ­process, Murchison destroys the caricature of ­Dickinson that has emerged from such popular treatments as HBO’s \u003ci\u003eJohn Adams\u003c\/i\u003e miniseries and the Broadway musical \u003ci\u003e1776\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDickinson is remembered mostly for his reluctance to sign the ­Declaration of Independence. But that reluctance, Murchison shows, had nothing to do with a lack of patriotism. In fact, Dickinson immediately took up arms to serve the colonial cause—something only one signer of the ­Declaration did. He stood on principle to oppose declaring independence at that moment, even when he knew that doing so would deal the “finishing blow” to his once-great reputation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDubbed the “Penman of the Revolution,” Dickinson was not just a scribe but also a shaper of mighty events. From the 1760s through the late 1780s he was present at, and played a significant role in, every major assemblage where the Founders charted America’s path—a claim few others could make. Author of the landmark essays \u003ci\u003eLetters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania\u003c\/i\u003e, delegate to the Continental Congress, key ­figure behind the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, chief executive of both Pennsylvania and Delaware: Dickinson was, as one esteemed ­historian aptly put it, “the most underrated of all the Founders.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis lively biography gives a great Founder his long-overdue measure of honor. It also broadens our understanding of the Founding period, challenging many modern assumptions about the events of 1776 and 1787.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ISI Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47033860817136,"sku":"9781933859941","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781933859941_p0.jpg?v=1763640645","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781933859941","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}