250 Years of Us Book Club: The Shoemaker and the Tea Party

In the lead-up to America’s 250th anniversary, this book club explores history through both fiction and non-fiction that challenge familiar narratives and invite fresh perspectives on the American past. Each selection encourages readers to look beyond the textbook version of history and consider the people, choices, and hidden stories that shaped the nation.

February Selection: The Shoemaker and the Tea Party by Alfred F. Young

February’s selection highlights the life of George Robert Twelves Hewes, a Boston shoemaker whose experiences place an ordinary working man at the center of extraordinary historical events. The Shoemaker and the Tea Party traces Hewes’s role in the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution, showing how memory, class, and politics influence whose stories are remembered and whose are forgotten. The book challenges traditional hero-focused histories by revealing how everyday people helped create—and later interpret—the revolutionary era.

Excerpts from Ken Burns’ THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION will be shown in the book discussion group. These clips have been made possible through a library grant from PBS.