young narrates the account of george robert twelves hewes's visit to john hancock on new years day. as you read the excerpts on hewes, ask yourself what is the point of this occasion?

· why is hewes remembered in the historical record?

· according to young, what are the major tasks confronting any historian who wants to recover hewes?

· from an historical perspective, what are the problems with the biography by benjamin thatcher?

· what are the problems with relying on personal memory as an historical source?

· why it is significant that hewes remembers and describes himself as "saucy" in his youth?

· in chapter 4, young attempts to portray what kind of shoemaker hewes was; yet young has no records to work from. what types of conjectures does he make? are they plausible?

· what sources does young use to supplement or support hewes's memory?

· in what ways, does hewes give "us the perspective of a man in the street" (p. 36)?

· what was hewes's role in the boston massacre?

· what does young mean when he states, that hewes volunteered for the tea party and "became the kind of leader for whom most historians have never found a place" (p. 42)?

· young recounts hewes's encounter with john malcolm. how does this incident support young's previous description of hewes?

· what does the encounter between malcolm and hewes show us about social class? how does the encounter demonstrate that notions of social hierarchy were changing?

· what caused hewes to become a "patriot"?