Founding Mothers
The Women Who Raised Our Nation
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Much has been written about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution. But their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters have been overlooked by history. In Founding Mothers, Cokie Roberts uncovers the inspiring and often surprising stories of the women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families and their country were essential to the founding of the United States.
Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Deborah Read Franklin and Eliza Pinckney are just a few of the remarkable women whose everyday trials and extraordinary triumphs are profiled in this book. Drawing on personal correspondence, private journals, and even favorite recipes, Roberts reveals a side of eighteenth century history that has often been ignored, but deserves to be celebrated.
Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News and a senior news analyst for NPR. In addition to broadcasting, Roberts, along with her husband, Steven V. Roberts, writes a weekly column syndicated in newspapers across the country by United Media. She is the best-selling author of From This Day Forward, Founding Mothers, and Ladies of Liberty, and she lives with her husband in Bethesda, Maryland. “[Roberts] creates a strong ... case that without the patriotism of women on the home front, the Colonies would have lost the Revolutionary War ... Founding Mothers is a series of entertaining mini-biographies and engaging vignettes.” — New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
ABC News political commentator and NPR news analyst Roberts didn't intend this as a general history of women's lives in early America she just wanted to collect some great "stories of the women who influenced the Founding Fathers." For while we know the names of at least some of these women , we know little about their roles in the Revolutionary War, the writing of the Constitution, or the politics of our early republic. In rough chronological order, Roberts introduces a variety of women, mostly wives, sisters or mothers of key men, exploring how they used their wit, wealth or connections to influence the men who made policy. As high-profile players married into each other's families, as wives died in childbirth and husbands remarried, it seems as if early America or at least its upper crust was indeed a very small world. Roberts's style is delightfully intimate and confiding: on the debate over Mrs. Benedict Arnold's infamy, she proclaims, "Peggy was in it from the beginning." Roberts also has an ear for juicy quotes; she recounts Aaron Burr's mother, Esther, bemoaning that when talking to a man with "mean thoughts of women," her tongue "hangs pretty loose," so she "talked him quite silent." In addition to telling wonderful stories, Roberts also presents a very readable, serviceable account of politics male and female in early America. If only our standard history textbooks were written with such flair! 7 illus. not seen by PW.
