Founding Mothers
The Women Who Raised Our Nation
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- $229.00
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- $229.00
Descripción editorial
Legendary journalist Cokie Roberts' New York Times bestseller, Founding Mothers, is an intimate and illuminating look at the fervently patriotic and passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families—and their country—proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it.
While much has been written about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution, the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters they left behind have been little noticed by history. The late #1 New York Times bestselling author Cokie Roberts brings us the untold stories of women who fought the Revolution as valiantly as the men, often defending their very doorsteps.
Drawing upon personal correspondence, private journals, and even favored recipes, Roberts reveals the often surprising stories of these fascinating women in the American Revolution, bringing to life the everyday trials and extraordinary triumphs of individuals like Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Deborah Read Franklin, Eliza Pinckney, Catherine Littlefield Green, Esther DeBerdt Reed, and Martha Washington—proving that without our exemplary women, the new country might have never survived.
This essential work of American history reveals the stories of the women who built a nation from the ground up:
Women’s History: Go beyond the men who signed the Declaration and meet the wives, mothers, and sisters whose contributions were crucial to the forging of a new nation.Primary Source History: Drawn from private journals, personal letters, and even family recipes, this narrative brings the everyday trials and triumphs of colonial women to vivid life.Revolutionary War Heroines: Discover the patriotism of women like Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, and Martha Washington, who defended their homes and influenced policy while the men were at war.Colonial America: Explore the domestic sphere of the 18th century and see how women managed households, plantations, and businesses, proving essential to the survival of the new country.
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.
