J.L. Bell and Sam Forman
The Battle of Bunker’s Hill and the Siege and Liberation of Boston — Live Discussion
A live session with authors Sam Forman and J.L. Bell, both of whom will be presenting at History Camp this year. We covered Joseph Warren, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege and Liberation of Boston.
From the publisher of Sam Forman’s Book Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty
The definitive biography of the Revolutionary War doctor and hero. An American doctor, Bostonian, and patriot, Joseph Warren played a central role in the events leading to the American Revolution. This detailed biography of Warren rescues the figure from obscurity and reveals a remarkable revolutionary who dispatched Paul Revere on his famous ride and was the hero of the battle of Bunker Hill, where he was killed in action. Physician to the history makers of early America, political virtuoso, and military luminary, Warren comes to life in this comprehensive biography meticulously grounded in original scholarship.
Reviews
Book of the Year – American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia
“Thank you Dr. Forman for writing the book. [You] sought to put together the details of the life of Joseph Warren, a Boston doctor… who started the [Warren] physician lineage as well as had a major impact in the American Revolution.” – Atul Gawande
“Dr. Samuel Forman presents this extraordinary book about Dr. Joseph Warren… His roots in history allow him to be an exemplar of the scholar physician.” – Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard University School of Public Health
“This is a story about an extremely overlooked founder who really played a huge part in the country’s fight for freedom from the English. This is a definite keeper in the biography/historian’s and perhaps, even the fiction reader’s library.” – Mary Lignor, Feathered Quill Book Reviews
“Joseph Warren is afascinating work of research and historical sleuthing that applies amuch-needed medical expertise to the story of one of revolutionaryMassachusetts’s preeminent physicians and political leaders. Thanks to Forman’sterrific new book we will never see Dr. Joseph Warren in the same way again.” – Nathaniel Philbrick
Related to our discussion tonight
- Events
- The Pursuit of History: The Siege and Liberation of Boston, August 7 – 8, 2025 — Includes video of preview of Bunker Hill and two other redoubts that will be visited.
- History Camp Boston 2025, August 9 – 10, 2025
- The Pursuit of History: The Outbreak of War, April 3 – 6, 2025 — Videos and photos of the event
- The Pursuit of History: Rebellion in New England, May 10 – 12, 2024 — Photos of the event
- History Camp Author Discussions
- J.L. Bell and Sam Forman — Lexington, Concord, and the Outbreak of War
- Sam Forman — Dr. Joseph Warren and the 1764 Boston Smallpox Epidemic
- J.L. Bell — The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War
- Map and diagram showing the attack
- Video map showing attack on Bunker’s Hill—I added this blog post from The History List based on a comment received during the discussion that asked for maps.
[Recorded and posted on July 10, 2025]
J.L. Bell (boston1775.blogspot.com) is the author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War, the National Park Service report Gen. George Washington’s Home and Headquarters—Cambridge, Mass., and numerous articles. He maintains the Boston 1775 website, offering daily postings of history, analysis, and unabashed gossip about Revolutionary New England. Bell is slowly working on a book about the troubled first year of the Continental artillery regiment, including Henry Knox’s rise to command.
Dr. Samuel A. Forman, MD, MBA, MPH, (illfatedfrontier.com, DrJosephWarren.com, @DrSamForman) is a historian and Harvard University faculty member. He is educated in the history of the American Revolution as well as the practice of medicine. Throughout his successful careers as a physician, military officer, and businessman, he has published and lectured on historical topics that inform current issues. Sam is the author of the award-winning biography Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty (Pelican, 2012). His latest book is Ill-Fated Frontier: Peril and Possibilities in the Early American West (Lyons Press of Rowman and Littlefield, 2021).
Dr. Forman is a Founding Board Member of The Pursuit of History and is a regular presenter at History Camp Boston.
