The Autobiography of a Criminal

by Henry Tufts

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1559500956
• ISBN13: 9781559500951
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Loompanics Unlimited
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A VERY important book about 18th century New England

Do NOT be fooled by the idiotic cover drawing!!!! This book is a gem. It is not a novel. The only fictions in it are the lies that the author tells about himself. Even if this were only the personal narrative of Henry Tufts life, that of a con man, horse thief, burglar, jail-breaker, serial bigamist, serial deserter from the Revolutionary Army, it would be enough. The descriptions of his travels, escapades, and interactions, provide an unusually powerful picture of life in New England during the time of the Revolutionary war. It is interesting precisely because Henry Tufts was not a hero, a revolutionary, a craftsman, or a landowner. He was a common man, but perhaps an uncommon criminal. He was a distant relation of the more famous Tufts and either was fairly well-educated or told his story to someone who was. The language of this work is the language of the lettered men of that time, a bit florid but highly descriptive and delightfully laced with wry humor (his description of his escape from the Dover Jail would have made an excellent Harold Lloyd comedy). All this is wonderful stuff, but the crowning glory of this book consists of three chapters hidden in the middle of it. Tufts had been wounded and had the remnants of a knife blade embedded in his thigh. The wound was infected and he thought he was going to die, when an acquaintance suggested that he visit "Molly Occutt" (more commonly known as "Molly Ocket" the renowned Abenaki healer. In chapters 7-9 Tufts describes, in relatively sympathetic terms, his life in an Abenaki village for three years as he hunted with them, and learned medicine from Molly. Other than brief passages in letters, this is the only description of Abenaki life we have. This edition suffers from a lack of maps and the introduction is more concerned with the history of crime than placing the narrative in the geographical, political, and social context it deserves, but it is available and, if you are interested in colonial times, well worth having in your library. As for the cover ... Tufts was a charming con man, a seducer, a person who was easily accepted by his contemporaries as a minister or a doctor. The cartoonish cover shamefully misrepresents him as an obviously unsavory ruffian. Please don't let it stop you from this unique experience.

The Autobiography of a Criminal

The Autobiography of a Criminal is a narrative of Henry Tufts: horse thief, bigamist, burglar, adulterer, con man, scoundrel, counterfeiter, deserter and common criminal. He roamed the American colonies in the late 1700s, visiting several jails and escaping from most of them, before writing his autobiography. ---from book's back cover