Andrew Eliot (1718–1778) was one of the most prominent Boston leaders in the second half of the eighteenth century. As minister of one of the city’s biggest churches, his was an important political, as well as religious voice into the earliest years of the American War for Independence. But Eliot has often been neglected or misunderstood.

In this first full biography, John S. Oakes draws on multiple sources to offer a fresh portrait of the Boston minister as:
• a moderate, but orthodox Calvinist, who maintained a consistent witness at a time of theological turmoil
• a prosperous family man, who helped the lay the foundations for future generations of Eliot's among the Boston “Brahmin”
• a “reluctant revolutionary,” whose devotion to Protestant British ideals prevented him from embracing the patriot cause in the War for Independence until hostilities were already under way.
• a dedicated pastor, who was one of very few ministers to choose to endure the hardships of Boston under British occupation.