First published 2008
Cokie Roberts turns her attention to the remarkable women who built early America in the decades following independence. The bestselling author of Founding Mothers draws on personal letters, private diaries, and previously unpublished documents to reveal how women navigated public influence and domestic duties in the new republic. Roberts profiles an extraordinary cast including Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Martha Jefferson, Elizabeth Monroe, Louisa Catherine Adams, Eliza Hamilton, Theodosia Burr, Rebecca Gratz, Sacajawea, and others. These portraits showcase first ladies who shaped political culture, educators who advanced learning, explorers who pushed boundaries, and freethinkers who challenged convention. Roberts presents their stories through their own voices, with nearly every quotation written by, to, or about a woman. The book illuminates how these ladies of liberty laid foundations for a better society while managing the complex demands of their era. Roberts offers readers intimate access to the generation of heroines, reformers, and visionaries who deserve recognition alongside the celebrated founding fathers.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, american, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, historical-figures
Setting: America, United States
Period: Early America, Independence Era, New Republic
481 pages · Hardcover · Harper