Product Description

Explores the lives of women who helped shape the United States, profiling such key figures as Abigail Adams, Eliza Pinkney, Dolley Payne Madison, Deborah Read Franklin, and Catherine Littlefield Greene.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1048493 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

A Different Perspective On the Founding Of America
"Founding Mothers" tells the story of women, famous, not so famous and obscure, who contributed to the founding of the United States. In this, as in her other works, Cokie Roberts has told an excellent story.

Some of the women, such as Martha Washington and Abigail Adams, we know well. Others, including Mercy Otis Warren and Eliza Pinckney, are mothers and wives of lesser known men, who influenced the crucial roles their sons and husbands played in the early Acts of the American Pageant. Some, such as Molly Pitcher, are so obscure that their actual identity is not known with certainty.

This book is divided into sections pertaining to the Revolution, the writing and adoption of the Constitution and the establishment of the National Government. Some of the subjects, such as Martha Washington, play roles in more than one section.

This book is well written and presents its stories so as to hold the reader's interest, regardless of whether the story is familiar or not, and central or peripheral to the development of the nation. I am always suspicious of books in which the author tries to make the subjects into something that they are not. I do not think that Ms. Roberts tries to do that in this book. Her renderings of the activities of the Founding Mothers are very believable. She seems to keep their involvement and influence, as significant as it is, within plausible limits. As readers of my reviews are aware, I have read several books about this era of our history. (See my Listmania Lists, "The Story of the American Revolution" and "Founding Presidents.") "Founding Mothers" presents, in an enchanting fashion, a perspective of the history largely absent from other books.